At a special event at the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Annie Lennox has been awarded the prestigious Livingstone Medal for her outstanding contribution to humanitarian work, including her work in the response to HIV.
For more than two decades, Ms Lennox has used her platform to respond to the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV, spoken out for the most vulnerable people in society and been a powerful voice for the empowerment of women and girls. She has undertaken numerous visits to affected communities in Africa and supports many nongovernmental organizations, such as mothers2mothers, which campaigns to end HIV among children. Ms Lennox has been an International Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS since 2010.
Awarded since 1901 and named after the nineteenth century British explorer David Livingstone, former recipients of the Livingstone Medal include the American astronaut Neil Armstrong, the New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and the former Irish President and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
“I’m truly honoured to receive such a significant and historical award as the Livingstone Medal. There have been numerous social and medical transformations since David Livingstone’s lifetime, yet there is still so much more to do before we can see the end of the AIDS epidemic, which has affected the lives of millions of men, women and children across every region of sub-Saharan Africa. My contribution has been small, but my dream would be to see the end of AIDS in the not too distant future.”
Annie Lennox, UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador
“I congratulate my dear sister Annie on this well-deserved recognition. I am proud that her crucial work has been recognized in this way. Annie's voice and activism have contributed so much to the AIDS response and to the results we are seeing today, including the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive.”
Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director
