Bono worries the fight against Aids is being lost.
U2 star Bono
The 58-year-old singer fears the world risks losing the health battle, with governments around the globe increasingly overlooking the issue in order to resolve problems in their own countries.
Bono warned: "We could lose this thing.
"We were winning. We have been somewhat put on the back foot by the understandable concern in northern economies that we have problems in our own cities.
"If there are people on the streets in our own cities, why should we care about what's going on over there?
"The answer is that what is going on 'over there' affects us. If Africa loses, Europe can't win. But we have got to get back into the conversation. We need a response to what is going on in our own cities."
Meanwhile, Bono previously claimed he feels a responsibility to speak out in support of less fortunate people.
The U2 star - who is widely known for his philanthropic work - claimed to represent "young people who can't be in the room" with influential politicians.
Asked whether he's ever nervous about speaking to politicians, Bono explained: "I'm never nervous.
"They should be nervous because I'm representing people who they hold the power of life and death over, not me. I wouldn't want to be sitting there.
"I wouldn't want to be a lawmaker turning down an offer to increase foreign appropriations to deal with the biggest health crisis in 600 years, realising that there are people who will die as a result of that. I wouldn't want to be that.
"So no, I'm not nervous. They should be nervous. I represent young people who can't be in the room, and I try to do it with some grace. I try not to club my way through the argument.
"I try to speak it quietly and seriously and as delicately as I can, but I rely on the weight of the argument more than my own celebrity or my own, you know, even indignation to do the work."