Lennox to join Scottish delegation in Aids crusade

Lennox to help African country Malawi in its struggle against HIV and Aids.

London: Singer Annie Lennox will be joining a Scottish delegation to help African country Malawi in its struggle against HIV and Aids.

Lennox, 56, will travel to the poverty-stricken nation next month in what will be her first trip since she was appointed special envoy for the Scottish branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPASB). The visit is the latest initiative in the agreement signed between Scotland and Malawi, which has seen the Scottish Government give 13 million pounds in aid to the African nation since 2005. Lennox, who founded her SING campaign to raise awareness of Aids in Africa, talked about the need to “increase access to treatment” for people suffering from the virus as the visit was announced. “Aids is the biggest global killer of women of reproductive age. In Malawi, one in 14 people is living with the disease, which remains the country’s leading cause of death in adults,” the Scotsman quoted her as saying. “In spite of this, the stigma of HIV in many countries is still so great that many people remain too afraid to talk about the issue or disclose they are infected. “To have the opportunity to travel to Malawi to meet individuals and groups and help to encourage them to find ways of breaking down stigma, increase access to treatment, and improve prevention initiatives is a real, real honour for me,” she stated. ANI