Annie Lennox OBE has received an award for raising awareness of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The Aberdeen-born singer was presented with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s latest Livingstone Medal at an event in Edinburgh.
When the honour was announced, the singer said: “I’m truly honoured to receive such a significant and historical award.”
“There have been numerous social and medical transformations since David Livingstone’s lifetime,” she says, “yet there is still so much more to do before we can see the end of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has ravaged 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.”
Mike Robinson, the chief executive of RSGS, praised Lennox: “We are very happy to be able to recognise the outstanding contribution that Annie has made championing critical global issues over the past three decades, in particular in raising awareness of the plight of those suffering HIV/AIDS and of those living in the world’s most vulnerable areas.”
Speaking at Southbank Centre’s Women of the World festival recently Lennox said she was “trying to inspire” through her activism, as she told a packed London crowd that HIV/Aids was the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age worldwide.
The Livingstone Medal was endowed by RSGS co-founder Mrs Agnes Livingstone-Bruce in memory of her father, the explorer and missionary Dr David Livingstone.
Past recipients of the award include astronaut Neil Armstrong, Everest climber Sir Edmund Hillary and explorer Ranulph Fiennes.
