World AIDS Day: Rising to the Challenge

November 25, 2024

Every World AIDS Day, December 1, we honor those people we have lost to AIDS and rededicate ourselves to ending the epidemic in the U.S. and around the world. Here are just a few of the many events and initiatives to be launched on or around World AIDS Day.

UNAIDS has adopted the World AIDS Day theme, Take the Rights Path. According to their website, “This World AIDS Day is a call to action to protect everyone’s health by protecting everyone’s rights. Leaders need to take the rights path.” UNAIDS has released release a special Take the Rights Path report accompanied by a dedicated website featuring an interactive map with videos, stories, and statistics that illustrate why social justice is essential to ending AIDS.
The U.S government’s theme for World AIDS Day 2024 is “Collective Action: Sustain and Accelerate HIV Progress.” It’s a commitment to build on the hard-won progress already made against HIV, while continuing to tailor initiatives based on scientific advances such as long-acting injectable PrEP, implementation research, and best practices, including dismantling structural barriers that hinder access to testing, treatment, and care for marginalized groups.
On December 4, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will host a live Zoom Webinar panel discussion, “Progress, Innovation, and Impact in HIV Research,” to acknowledge advances in treatment and prevention and innovations in service delivery and to recognize the work that needs to be done to achieve equitable access for communities and people most in need.
Also, on December 5, the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) is convening “Enhancing the Lives of People with HIV—A Quality of Life Symposium,” key portions of which will be available virtually. Participants will include long-term survivors of HIV alongside researchers, leaders from community-based organizations, and federal officials. The symposium will address mental health, housing, nutrition, and employment—all core aspects of quality of life—across a series of panel discussions.

“This World AIDS Day is a call to action to protect everyone’s health by protecting everyone’s rights.”
UNAIDS

amfAR is partnering with M·A·C Viva Glam to host a reception and panel discussion titled “HIV/AIDS: How We Can All Rise to the Challenge” on December 4 in New York City. The moderated discussion will cover HIV cure research, stigma, and the role of younger people in advocacy efforts. Panelists are amfAR’s newly appointed vice president and director of research, Andrea Gramatica, PhD; Robert Pitts, MD, Medical Director, HIV Prevention and Pride Center at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue; and Kiara St. James, co-founder and Executive Director of New York Transgender Advocacy Group.
A new analysis from amfAR’s public policy office warns of the potential consequences if all Southern U.S. states follow Tennessee’s lead in rejecting federal funding and guidance on HIV. amfAR estimates that such a course of action could lead to an estimated 32,000 avoidable HIV cases by 2030.
In a Viewpoint article in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, Jennifer Kates, of KFF, and amfAR’s Greg Millett, MPH, and Brian Honermann weigh in on the future of PEPFAR in light of domestic and global challenges. The article assesses the shifting ground of the HIV funding landscape and provides questions policy makers should consider as they navigate a new era marked by a changing political environment, a strained global economy, and human rights abuses.

“On this World AIDS Day,” the authors conclude, “these questions and others could offer new opportunities to rethink PEPFAR’s future, proactively recasting and reframing it, while keeping a focus on the goal of ending the AIDS pandemic as a public health threat.”