Prince Harry urges HIV testing in new PSA: 'There is still too much stigma'

Bryan Alexander | USA TODAY

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Prince Harry is urging everyone to be like him and take an HIV test.

“Taking an HIV test is something to be proud of – not something to be ashamed or embarrassed about,” the 34-year-old royal says in a new public service announcement released Friday. "There is still too much stigma which is stopping so many of us from getting a simple, quick and easy test."

"We won't bring an end to HIV until testing is seen as completely normal and accessible to everyone," he says

Within the PSA launched in the beginning of National HIV Testing Week, Prince Harry trumpets that the United Kingdom has seen "an incredible" 28 percent decline in new HIV diagnoses over the last two years. Increased testing for HIV (the Human Immunodeficiency Virus) which causes AIDS, is a "major cause in the shift, he says.

“This is no time for complacency," he warns.

Prince Harry, back from last month's 16-day tour of Australia and the South Pacific with wife Meghan, wears an AIDS awareness red ribbon in the PSA. In it, he says he had been tested two years ago: "It was actually really easy."

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And it's vital.

"By not getting tested, it could kill you. By getting tested, it could save your life," Prince Harry says. “We won’t bring an end to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus until testing is seen as completely normal and accessible for everyone.”

The late Princess Diana, Harry's mother, helped change the public’s attitude on AIDS when, in 1987, she opened an HIV/AIDS unit in London’s Middlesex Hospital and shook hands with a patient. She helped remove the stigma from the disease in a single, glove-free greeting as well as raising millions for AIDS and cancer charities.

"It's simple, by getting tested you are stopping the HIV epidemic in its tracks, you're helping to save lives," says Prince Harry.

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