World AIDS Day 2023 – Put communities first!
This World AIDS Day, the IAS calls on all stakeholders to put communities first! It's long been known that progress in the HIV response hinges on community leadership. “Community leadership in the AIDS response is its fundamental pillar for success” because community has “unmatched experience, expertise and reach”, authors of a special World AIDS Day viewpoint in the Journal of the International AIDS Society state. And as the 2023 UNAIDS Global AIDS Update emphasizes, countries that put people and communities first in their policies and programmes are leading the way in the HIV response. However, community-driven efforts are underutilized and underfunded globally. Around the world, 9.2 million people living with HIV are not accessing life-saving treatment and 630,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2022 – that is one life every minute. HIV is still most prevalent in central, eastern, western and southern Africa, home to 65% of all people living with HIV. Contributing to...