Sir Elton John has issued a call for the world not to let up in its fight to beat the HIV virus and combat prejudice against the LGBT community.

Speaking to News At Ten at a major HIV conference in the city of Durban, South Africa he also praised Prince Harry.

The Prince was like his mother Princess Diana, he said, in his ability to break down barriers.

Video Report by ITV News Africa Correspondent John Ray

Sir Elton's latest project, funded by his Aids Foundation, will see money being spent on providing education, legal assistance, and medicine to LGBT communities where being LGBT is a crime.

He said: "We've come an awful long way. Now if a woman is pregnant, she doesn't pass the disease onto the child, that's how far we've come."

There is much more work to do, though - there are still many children born with HIV and who feel disenfranchised, he said, and ignoring them may mean the "great work" in the last decades will have "come to nothing".

Although Sir Elton was hopeful, he said it was "disconcerting" that homophobia is still an issue in many parts of the world, and that many LGBT people do not have the freedom to be with their partner as he is.

"The human spirit will always prevail," he said, "but it is disconcerting to see people being marginalised, to see people fearful to be who they are.

"And if they are gay, and if they have HIV, they're not likely to come out, they're going to spread the disease further."