Prince Harry & Celebrity Line-up Reveal Secrets for World Aids Day

Prince Harry and a line-up of celebrities including Nicole Scherzinger, Gemma Arterton, Paloma Faith and Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton will today lay their secrets bare to the world on video in support of Sentebale’s #FeelNoShame campaign for World AIDS Day.

Sharing secrets from worst fears to guilty pleasures with the hashtag #FeelNoShame, Prince Harry and the A-List line-up hope to raise awareness of a serious issue – the stigma and shame which prevents HIV sufferers worldwide from speaking up and seeking support.

Created by CHI&Partners and powered by tech company Visual Voice, for Prince Harry’s charity Sentebale, the campaign will launch at midnight, when Prince Harry will release a video from a microsite – FeelNoShame.Today – asking the public to share their own secrets via social media in exchange for his.

He will then release a second video at 1.00pm sharing his secret, with the hashtag #FeelNoShame.

Other celebrities’ secrets will be released throughout the day via the same microsite, as the #FeelNoShame hashtag spreads across social media.  The campaign aims to raise awareness of how eradicating shame and stigma can save the lives of HIV sufferers, empowering them to seek medical support and education about their condition, and preventing the virus from spreading.

Prince Harry said: “Globally, HIV is the second highest cause of death amongst those aged between 10-19 years old, and it is the number one cause of death across Africa. One tragic issue in particular is the shame and stigma linked to HIV. This causes thousands of children to needlessly die each year because they’re keeping their illness a secret and not getting the medical attention they need.

“To show our support for the children of Lesotho [where Sentebale works], and help reduce the stigma for all those affected by HIV, we are turning this World AIDS Day into a day in which no one should feel any shame about their secrets. Together, we can tackle the stigma surrounding HIV and give the young people carrying it the childhood they deserve. The childhood so many of us take for granted.”

Jonathan Burley, Executive Creative Director at CHI&Partners, said: “#FeelNoShame is a powerful, simple vehicle for a very serious message – communication saves lives. HIV sufferers are dying simply because they’re too ashamed to speak up and seek support. With #FeelNoShame, we and the celebrities we are working with hope to spark a long-term shift in how people think about HIV/AIDS in the developing world, rejecting the shame and stigma people misguidedly associate with the disease.”

Prince Harry co-founded Sentebale in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, following a visit to the country two years earlier, when he was struck by the effect the HIV/AIDS pandemic was having on the country, particularly its children.

Lesotho has the third highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world, after Swaziland and Botswana. More than 37,000 of Lesotho’s 500,000 children are HIV positive, and approximately 200,000 have lost parents to AIDS, forcing them out of school and into hazardous forms of labour including prostitution and trafficking. Since 1996, the country’s average life expectancy has fallen from 59 years to below 48.7 years.

Sentebale provides accommodation, hot food, access to medication and education for Lesotho’s children – preventing the virus from spreading – as well as vital psycho-social support to help them tackle stigma and cope with the emotional repercussions of their condition and live normal lives.

#FeelNoShame aims to shine the spotlight on Sentebale’s life-saving work in Lesotho, encouraging individual and corporate participation and donation, and enabling the charity to extend its network to other countries afflicted by HIV/AIDS. CHI&Partners and Visual Voice have worked on the campaign pro-bono.