As United Nations Member States prepare to convene for the 2026 UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV/AIDS on 22–23 June, civil society groups and UNAIDS are warning that the global HIV response stands at a critical crossroads. UN High-Level Meeting (HLM), held every five years since 2001, has historically shaped the direction of the global AIDS response, helping to catalyze landmark initiatives such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
This year’s gathering comes amid shrinking HIV budgets, disruptions to prevention and treatment services, growing attacks on human rights, and concerns over the future of international cooperation. Both civil society organizations and UNAIDS are calling for urgent action to ensure the world remains on track to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
On 17 May 2026, civil society organizations, key population networks, and communities living with and affected by HIV met to develop a common agenda for the High-Level Meeting. Following extensive consultations at country, regional, and global levels, they released a collective statement outlining priorities for the 2026 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.
The statement notes that despite major scientific advances and decades of advocacy, the world failed to meet its 2025 HIV targets. Millions of people still lack access to treatment, AIDS-related deaths remain unacceptably high, and structural inequalities, criminalization, shrinking civic space, and funding cuts threaten to undermine hard-won gains. Civil society groups are urging governments to ensure the new Political Declaration is firmly grounded in community leadership, human rights, sustainable financing, equity, and accountability.
Among their key demands are stronger recognition and funding for community-led organizations, protection of HIV investments, decriminalization of key populations, expansion of HIV prevention services, equitable access to medicines and new technologies, and stronger accountability mechanisms to ensure governments uphold their commitments. “The tools to end AIDS already exist,” the statement says. “What is needed now is political will, sustained investment, and leadership rooted in communities and human rights.”
The civil society appeal was followed by a UNAIDS report, which warned that external funding cuts, underinvestment in prevention and community services, and a growing rollback of human rights are threatening to reverse decades of progress. “There’s no question that this is the most serious disruption in the HIV response since the world came together to fight this disease,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “The funding cuts, combined with the reduction in civic space and the further criminalization of marginalized populations, have come together to create the biggest storm the HIV response has ever seen.”
According to the report, global development assistance declined by 23 percent in 2025, the steepest drop on record, with HIV programmes among the hardest hit. Between 2024 and 2025, HIV testing programmes in high-burden countries fell by 22 percent, while funding for condoms dropped by more than 90 percent in some settings. Uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a highly effective HIV prevention medication, declined by 38 percent across 62 reporting countries.
UNAIDS warns that HIV prevention programmes are being dismantled at a time when they should be expanding, particularly as new long-acting prevention technologies become available. Prevention accounted for only 11 percent of total HIV spending in 2024, and that already limited investment continues to shrink, with little indication that domestic resources will fully compensate for the loss of external funding.
The report highlights significant achievements made over the last quarter-century. Since 2010, AIDS-related deaths have declined by 56 percent, falling from 1.3 million to 570,000 in 2025. New HIV infections have dropped by 43 percent to 1.2 million, while 32.1 million of the 40.9 million people living with HIV are now receiving treatment. However, nearly 9 million people remain without treatment.
UNAIDS warns that gains in treatment coverage are increasingly vulnerable, particularly in regions such as Western and Central Africa, where HIV treatment programmes remain heavily dependent on external financing. Without sustained donor support and increased domestic investment, treatment interruptions could lead to rising deaths and new infections. Progress is also uneven across regions.
New HIV infections have increased since 2010 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America. Meanwhile, approximately 3,000 adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa continue to acquire HIV every week. The report highlights the vital role played by community-led organizations, which often provide HIV prevention, treatment, and support services to some of the populations most affected by the epidemic.
These groups are often the first point of contact for people living with HIV, sex workers, people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and other marginalized communities. Yet many community organizations are struggling to survive. A recent community-led study covering 79 organizations across 47 countries found a 50 percent reduction in support services for people living with HIV, an 82 percent decline in services for sex workers, and an 85 percent reduction in services for men who have sex with men.
Support services for survivors of gender-based violence have also been significantly reduced. Civil society groups argue that protecting community-led responses must be central to the next phase of the global HIV strategy.
UNAIDS also warns of an alarming rollback in human rights protections. For the first time since the agency began monitoring these trends, criminalization of marginalized populations is increasing rather than declining. In 2025, two additional countries introduced laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity, while another country increased penalties in 2026.
“Diseases spread fastest where human rights are weakest,” said Ms. Byanyima. “The rollback on human rights and civic space is not accidental, it is organized, it is political, and it has real public health consequences.” Civil society organizations are therefore calling on governments to eliminate punitive laws and policies, strengthen protections against discrimination, and ensure that all people can access HIV services without fear of arrest, violence, or stigma.
Despite the challenges, both UNAIDS and civil society groups emphasize that ending AIDS by 2030 remains achievable. Domestic financing for HIV programmes has increased significantly, rising from 28 percent of total HIV spending in 2010 to 52 percent in 2024. More than 54 countries have committed to increasing domestic HIV investments since January 2025.
The integration of HIV services into broader health systems is also expanding, with a quarter of reporting countries incorporating HIV into wider health strategies.Innovation is creating new opportunities as well. By March 2026, more than 6,000 people across five sub-Saharan African countries had gained access to the long-acting HIV prevention medicine lenacapavir, although UNAIDS estimates that up to 20 million people could benefit from antiretroviral prevention medicines.
The 2026 High-Level Meeting will culminate in the adoption of a new Political Declaration that will guide the global HIV response through the final five years leading to 2030.
Among the proposed targets are reaching 40 million people with antiretroviral treatment, ensuring 20 million people have access to HIV prevention medicines, and guaranteeing services free from stigma and discrimination. UNAIDS estimates that achieving these targets could prevent an additional 3.2 million new HIV infections by 2030.
For civil society and global health advocates, the message ahead of the meeting is clear: the science exists, the tools are available, and the pathway is known. What remains uncertain is whether governments will mobilize the political commitment and resources needed to finish the job.
“We know how to end AIDS,” said Byanyima. “The question now is political: will we invest, or will we retreat? If we act together and commit to a strong Political Declaration, we can still end AIDS by 2030. If we fail to act, we risk reversing decades of hard-fought progress.”-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
