By Tim Saunders on
Annie Lennox took her thoughts about AIDS in Africa to the Scottish parliament earlier this week, when she took part in the Festival of Politics.
The singer was there on behalf of her SING Campaign, which raises money for the Treatment Action Campaign's work in Africa.
During her speech, Lennox described HIV/AIDS as a “huge pandemic that to be fair, to be honest, governments have not responded to effectively enough”.
She also hit out at the Catholic Church, saying: “Churches can do a tremendous amount, and I know they do, but then again they can do tremendous harm, because when the Pope goes to a country in Africa and tells them that they shouldn’t be using condoms when we know that HIV is a sexually transmitted disease, I don’t think that makes any sense at all.”
It is the fifth time the Festival has taken place, but the first time Lennox has spoken.
“I’m comfortably wealthy, white, educated – I’m one of the lucky ones. I have had good healthcare and my children have good healthcare. I want that for everybody, I want people to have fundamental access to the most basic things. Everybody can do something, I really believe that, that each of us have a sphere of influence, whether it be your friends, your family or workplace, or colleagues. I would really like it if the Scottish Parliament could use me in some way to be the Scottish representative for women and children and HIV.”
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