The world’s largest HIV/AIDS care provider, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), held a special free concert event to commemorate World AIDS Day. Observed on December 1, artists like multiple award-winning Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, and iconic Debbie Allen joined together to raise money and awareness for this dreaded disease, one of the first pandemics in the Hip-Hop generation’s lifetime.
Debbie Allen, leading up to the event, shared that AIDS advocacy is very personal for her. She said, “I had many friends and loved ones who passed away from this deadly virus.”
“World AIDS Day allows me to celebrate those lives lost and commemorate their various contributions not only to our personal relationships but also to film, television, dance, and more,” she continued. “Having a longstanding partnership with AIDS Healthcare Foundation is a prime example of how community should support and uplift one another. It is crucial for us to understand that this fight is far from over. Forty years ago, AIDS was first recognized by the CDC, and 40 years later we have lost millions of lives.”
She concluded, “I’m committed to continue to do my part in bringing awareness to HIV/AIDS, and I encourage you to do the same.”
The Oscar-winning Jennifer Hudson tour the concert down, singing some of the songs that made her one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2020.
But Hudson was not the only phenom at the AHF World AIDS Day celebration.
Christina Aguilera took the stage and shut it down.
The money raised from this concert helps to fight the spread of AIDS in American and educate the masses on how to prevent the spread of HIV/ AIDS. According to HIV.gov, 1.2 million people in the U.S. have HIV and 13% of them don’t know it because they have not been tested.
Since 1981, there have been more than 700,000 AIDS-related deaths. Shockingly, according to the Scientific American website, that number is not as large as the number of people who have died from COVID-19. In less than two years, 800,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus.
This means two things: 1) The work of organizations like the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Lifebeat have worked hard to works so that an HIV/ AIDS diagnosis is not a death sentence and 2) COVID-19 ain’t no joke.
Be safe!