Elton John is used to wowing an audience with his music.
Tuesday, however, the part-time Atlantan used the stage for another reason — to press for a renewed and aggressive push to rid the world of HIV/AIDS.
"I've watched 60 close friends die," said John, a keynote speaker at the 2009 BIO International Convention, the world's largest biotechnology gathering.
Those friends included Ryan White, the Indiana teen who contracted the disease from a blood transfusion, and fellow musician Freddie Mercury.
John said the world's governments and institutions can no longer afford to ignore the realities of the disease. More is needed in education, particularly among young people; access to medical care; and controversial needle exchange programs.
During the 1980s, as the disease was gaining momentum, John said he "should have been on front lines, I should have spoken out, I should have done more, but I didn't. . . . I'm ashamed."
Through 2007, the disease has claimed more than 580,000 lives in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. John said there is still a stigma associated with the disease and that HIV/AIDS has slipped from the radar of many Americans.
He cited a Kaiser Family Foundation report that found the number of Americans who thought HIV/AIDS was the nation's most urgent health problem dropped from 44 percent in 1995 to 17 percent in 2006 and to 6 percent today.
The share of young people (ages 18 to 29) who said they were personally concerned about contracting the virus fell from 30 percent in 1997 to 17 percent now.
John is a longtime supporter of HIV prevention and related causes. In 1992, he founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in the United States and a year later founded a sister organization in the United Kingdom. Combined, the organizations have raised more than $150 million to support projects in 55 nations.
"We are truly the David of non-profits fighting the Goliath of diseases," he said.
John's message was hardly lost on his audience, which included CEOS of companies developing therapies and vaccines for the fight against HIV/AIDS. Among them was Bob McNally, CEO of GeoVax Labs Inc. in Atlanta, which is working on a vaccine against HIV/AIDS.
"He hit everybody to say just not enough is being done," McNally said. "HIV is a story from yesterday and still people continue to die from the disease....He spurred the audience towards being advocates."
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