AN AWARD-winning nurse from Whiston joined Sir Elton John and Prince Harry at a conference in South Africa to raise awareness of HIV and Aids.

Gary Barker, speciality lead nurse for sexual health at St Helens Hospital, was named the UK's HIV Nurse of The Year in 2015 and invited to attend the conference last week.

He said it was "an honour" to attend the conference and meeting Sir Elton was a moment he will never forget.

Gary, who has just returned from the event, said: "The international AIDS conference focused on the need for stigmas attached to HIV to be discarded.

"Sir Elton John and Prince Harry spoke passionately about raising awareness, battling discrimination and the importance of keeping HIV in the headlines."

Gary - who developed a programme helping people living with HIV to access exercise classes, nutrition advice and healthcare - was nominated for the National HIV Nurses' Association award for his "warm, caring and compassionate attitude" and continuously going "above and beyond his job description".

At the conference, Sir Elton John said: "Today, HIV/Aids is a treatable disease and no longer the death sentence it was 10 years ago, but we cannot grow complacent in our fight to eradicate it.

"If our efforts wane, anti-viral drug resistance will resurface, transmission rates will again rise, and this disease, which knows no boundaries, will once again become a ruthless pandemic with disastrous and far-reaching consequences."

The latest data from Public Health England shows that, in 2014, there were an estimated 103,700 people with the condition in the UK, with 17 per cent unaware of their HIV status.

In 2014, almost 85,500 people accessed HIV treatment and care - more than double the number (42,157) in 2004 - and a five per cent increase on 2013.