Elton John Launches $1M COVID-19 Emergency Fund For Frontline Partners, Help HIV Patients

Elton John launches an emergency fund for the coronavirus pandemic.

A number of celebrities have already given back to help fight against COVID-19. The singer-songwriter joined them by launching a $1 million emergency fund for the pandemic through the Elton John Aids Foundation (EJAF).

“Today, I’m proud to announce that my Foundation @EJAF is launching a $1million COVID-19 Emergency Fund to make sure that our frontline partners can respond to the effects of COVID-19 on HIV care for the most marginalised communities around the world,” John wrote on Twitter.

John has been helping patients with HIV because his mission is to end the AIDS epidemic. For three decades, he has been prioritizing them and he realized that people who are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and those who already contracted the disease are most likely to be left behind due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are launching a new COVID-19 Emergency Fund that can protect the people we have always sought to serve through HIV care, treatment and prevention, as well as mitigating the damage that COVID-19 can do, particularly to the global gains we are making for more than 37 million people already living with HIV,” the foundation wrote on its website.

The foundation is already accepting applications for solutions that show strong potential to address specific challenges that arise for people living with or at severe risk of HIV/AIDS as a result of coronavirus. The solutions should demonstrate how it can mitigate the threat of COVID-19 on maintaining current levels of access or increasing access to HIV-related prevention, testing, care and treatment adherence services.

Just like Elton, Princess Diana worked on ending the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS. When the late Princess of Wales was still alive, she shook the hands of a gay man who was dying of AIDS.

“One simple handshake, one gesture showed the world the desperate need for humanity for people living with AIDS,” John said of Prince William and Prince Harry’s mom. “She knew the disease could not be communicated by hand. Her gesture meant nobody should be left behind. She did not distinguish between 'us' and 'them.'”