WASHINGTON — Alicia Keys says she wants to spark a global conversation about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The Grammy Award-winning singer says that when she traveled to Africa and India she felt connected to women with the virus because “they looked like they could be my sister, or they could be my aunt, or they could be my cousin.”

Keys is working with the Kaiser Family Foundation for “Empowered,” a campaign launched last month to educate women about HIV, which causes AIDS, and provide grants to community-based projects that will do that.