World at ‘perilous moment’ as leaders warn HIV gains are at risk

At the High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, held every five years since 2001, speakers urged governments to recommit to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 and adopt a new Political Declaration to guide the global response over the next five years. 

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed reflected on the extraordinary progress achieved through decades of global cooperation. 

“In the 45 years since the first case of AIDS was reported, the world has demonstrated uncommon resolve and solidarity,” she said, speaking on behalf of Secretary-General António Guterres, 

That effort helped reduce AIDS-related deaths by 70 per cent since their peak in 2004 and brought lifesaving antiretroviral treatment to more than 32 million people worldwide. 

Progress under pressure 

But Ms. Mohammed warned that progress remains uneven and fragile. By the end of 2024, 9.2 million people still lacked access to HIV treatment, while 1.3 million people acquired HIV and 630,000 died from AIDS-related causes. 

“Funding cuts are directly affecting prevention efforts, and the community systems that are so essential to the response,” she said. 

The Deputy Secretary-General called for renewed action across five priority areas: expanding access to prevention and treatment, strengthening community leadership, protecting human rights, increasing financing and reviving international cooperation. 

“Human rights and equality must continue to guide our response,” she said, warning that stigma, discrimination and shrinking civic space continue to place lives at risk. 

Listen to our interview with Mandeep Dhaliwal of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) who underlines why the world is at a critical point for HIV response.

Virus continues to spread

Speaking after the opening remarks, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima delivered an assessment of the current state of HIV response. 

“According to the OECD, development finance fell 23 per cent in 2025, the sharpest drop on record,” she said. 

She warned that HIV programmes in high-burden, low-income countries had been particularly affected. 

“Our newest UNAIDS data, released last week, showed fragility,” she said. “HIV testing has fallen 22 per cent in high-burden settings, meaning that people don’t know their status and the virus continues to spread.” 

Response at risk 

She added that funding for condoms had been cut by more than 90 per cent in some places. 

“Prevention is being dismantled at the very moment we should be scaling innovations like new long-acting medicines.” 

Despite the setbacks, Ms. Byanyima insisted that ending AIDS remains achievable. 

“Research could yet give us a cure. Ending AIDS is possible; yet, we meet at a perilous moment,” she said. “Multilateralism is at its weakest in a generation while threats are poised to reverse all our gains.” 

Communities at the centre 

Representing civil society, Karen Dunaway, Global Program Officer at the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW), urged delegates to remember that policies debated in conference rooms shape real lives. 

“The future of this response will depend on the choices we make in this room,” she said. 

She called for protecting bodily autonomy, advancing gender equality and removing laws and policies that exclude, criminalize and stigmatize key populations. 

Unfinished fight 

Reflecting on decades of advocacy, she reminded participants that progress did not happen automatically. 

“Every gain had to be fought for. Every barrier that was removed needed someone to question it. Every commitment is a choice,” she said. 

“This is why this moment is important. People in this room have the power to shape the HIV response that can change this world for the better.” 

The two-day meeting is expected to conclude with the adoption of a new Political Declaration intended to serve as the world’s primary accountability framework for national HIV commitments through 2030.