The musician and HIV/Aids campaigner spoke before Congress in support of a global fund to fight the disease

Sir Elton John has asked the US Congress to take the lead in HIV/Aids prevention. The singer, who founded the Elton John Aids Foundation in 1992, attended a Senate committtee hearing on Wednesday 6 May, where he implored the legislative body to maintain its leading, global role in funding HIV/Aids prevention.

“Because the American people have the optimism, the ingenuity and the will to make a difference, the lives of millions of people halfway around the world have been saved,” he told the Senate appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations. “But I’m here with a simple message: the Aids epidemic is not over, and America’s continued leadership is critical.”

He went on to describe a “window of opportunity” to bring about the end of Aids in his lifetime, and urged the subcommittee to use its power – namely, its financial heft – to make sure that window would not close due to a lack of attention.

“I have stood at too many bedsides, in America, England and across Africa helplessly watching people die in pain,” he said. “To bear the thought that we might go back to those dark days is unthinkable.”

Sir Elton said Congress was the most powerful legislative body in the world, adding: “You have the power to maintain America’s historic commitment to leading the global campaign against this disease. I’m here today to ask you to use that power.”

Sir Elton John had been invited to speak by Senators Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and Democrat Patrick Leahy. Bono had also been invited, but Graham said, was unable to attend. “He’s communicated with me several times regretting not being able to be here,” she said.

The hearing was set up to discuss funding plans for Pepfar, the program established to provide relief for those living with HIV and Aids around the world. Pepfar was founded in 2003 and renewed in 2008, by former president George W Bush’s administration.