World AIDS Day 2025: Overcoming Disruption, transforming the AIDS response.
Every 1st December, the world pauses to remember lives lost to HIV, honour the resilience of those living with it, and reflect on the long road to ending AIDS. This year, the world marks World AIDS Day under the theme “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response,” a reminder that global progress is real, yet fragile.
According to WHO, the HIV response is now at a turning point. Decades of gains are being tested by disruptions in healthcare services, shrinking funding, and rising vulnerabilities across communities. Even so, WHO notes that hope still lives in the courage of health workers, advocates, and communities who continue to push for a world free of AIDS.
A global Picture that Demands Attention
To understand the urgency, WHO reports that an estimated 40.8 million people were living with HIV in 2024, a clear sign that HIV remains a major global public health issue. During the same year, 630,000 people died from HIV-related illnesses, while 1.3 million acquired HIV.
And while treatment has transformed HIV into a manageable chronic condition, WHO makes it clear that there is still no cure. Progress only stands when prevention, testing, and treatment remain accessible and uninterrupted.
A Crisis and a Possibility: Both at Once
The theme for 2025 calls for two actions at the same time: fixing what is breaking, and daring to imagine a better response. According to WHO, countries must focus on simplifying services, integrating HIV care into primary health systems, and strengthening responses to issues like drug resistance and advanced disease. This goal is to reach more people with services that meet their needs where they are.
Yet it’s not only about health systems. WHO highlights a painful truth where inequality continues to fuel the epidemic. Children, adolescent girls, and young women remain at higher risk, especially in Africa. Key populations, including sex workers, people who use drugs, transgender and gender-diverse individuals, prisoners, and men who have sex with men, face higher exposure and limited access to services.
Ending AIDS means confronting these inequities, not ignoring them.
Africa’s Burden and Strength
WHO’s report indicate that African Region carries the biggest weight. In 2024, an estimated 26.3 million people were living with HIV in Africa. That is about 65% of the global total. The region has made progress, with 90% of people knowing their status and 83% receiving treatment. However, WHO reports that 650,000 people still acquired HIV in 2024, and 380,000 died due to related illnesses.
Innovation Gives the Fight New Energy
Even as funding becomes unstable, WHO points to breakthroughs. Innovations like long-acting lenacapavir, a six-monthly injection for HIV prevention, signal a new era. If delivered equitably, such tools can change lives, especially for people who face daily barriers to accessing health facilities.
Communities, the Heart of the Response
People living with HIV, activists, local groups, and frontline workers have always held the AIDS response together. They know what works and what doesn’t. When policymakers work hand in hand with these communities, trust grows, stigma falls, and access improves.
Simply put: the fight succeeds when people lead.
A call to Action for Everyone
The public is urged to advocate for rights-based healthcare, support local initiatives, and challenge stigma.
Health workers are encouraged to integrate HIV services into daily care and serve with dignity.
Governments are called to fund programmes fully, focus on vulnerable groups, and protect frontline workers.
Civil society and community leaders are asked to reach those who are often forgotten and to speak boldly against discrimination.
Ending AIDS by 2030 requires teamwork.
Looking Ahead
World AIDS Day 2025 is not just a date on the calendar. It is a call to remember the millions who have been lost, to celebrate those who continue to fight, and to demand a world where prevention, treatment, and dignity are not negotiable.
And while the journey remains long, WHO’s insights remind us that disruption doesn’t have to be defeat. It can be the spark that moves the world toward a stronger, fairer response.
