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Prince Harry has joined Charlize Theron in a new AIDS campaign almost 40 years after princess Diana’s groundbreaking handshake with an AIDS patient. At the height of the HIVu002FAids epidemic in the 1980s, Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, was one of the few public figures to visibly treat people living with HIV with compassion and humanity. In 1987, she opened the first HIVu002FAids unit at London’s Middlesex Hospital and, in front of the world’s press, shook hands with an HIV patient without wearing gloves – challenging the beliefs of some that the virus could be spread by day-to-day contact. Prince Harry has now joined Charlize Theron, Magic Johnson and other celebrities in appearing in a short filmthat rallies for support for HIVu002FAIDS amid global cutbacks. The UNAIDS project, which premiered Monday (22 September) at a United Nations assembly in New York, reiterates the aim of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 and also featured HIV activists Fabian Quezada and Andiswa Cindi. In the film, Prince Harry states: “If funding is not restored, UNAIDS estimates it could lead to 4.2 million more unnecessary, preventable deaths.” His warning was echoed by Theron and HIV activist Cindi. “Without urgent action, we risk reversing decades of progress,” he continued. The Duke of Sussex said in a statement: “Right now, babies are being born with HIV due to interruptions in antiretroviral treatment for their mothers. Without urgent action to reverse these crippling funding cuts, six million more people will become infected with HIV while four million will die from AIDS-related causes within the next four years. It is not just the at-risk communities that will be affected.