Silence Is Never Neutral: Why We Must Speak Out This World AIDS Day

This World AIDS Day is a stark reminder that silence is never neutral. As a number of US advocates and colleagues have shared since late last week (see Emily Bass for e.g)  the United States has instructed that across the entire US Government, no one is to spend funds or acknowledge World AIDS Day – while they may attend “local” external commemorations, they may not speak and may not promote or acknowledge the day in social media or other communications channels. Silence=Death.

The latest UNAIDS report and Global Fund results report show what silence puts at risk. Globally,  treatment scale-up has already saved 26.9 million lives, with 94% of people on treatment achieving viral suppression. In 2024, 88% of people living with HIV in Global Fund–supported countries knew their status, 79% were on treatment, and 74% had suppressed viral load — the highest levels ever recorded. Since 2002, mortality has fallen by 82% and incidence by 73%.

Innovation is moving : long-acting options such as lenacapavir expand prevention choice; vaccine and bNAb research advances; cure approaches remain early. This progress is unfolding just as the world enters the first Replenishment in years where contributions are declining rather than growing. A shrinking Replenishment means fewer people accessing prevention, fewer people starting treatment, and fewer systems able to deliver the innovations we say we believe in.

Pretending this is normal, or staying quiet about it, comes at a cost measured in lives.
World AIDS Day is precisely the moment when we cannot mute ourselves.

This history of the fight against AIDS  shows us the power of speaking out. People living with HIV redefined power. People living with HIV confronted “social death” by writing the Denver Principles and publicly claiming their expertise. Mobilisation corrected political failure. Community action forced institutions to move. Each breakthrough was made possible because communities insisted on being heard, loudly, clearly, relentlessly.

This is not only a legacy of the HIV/AIDS movement: it has become the playbook for global health advocates around the world, within HIV and beyond – as we advocate for health approaches that centre the experiences of people living with diseases and/or health systems that fail to ensure universal access to essential health services, we continue to build the ask for fully funded, universally accessible, equitable access to healthcare.

It has taught us and continues to inspire us to defend prevention in hostile environments, to push innovation toward access and equity, and how to remain unapologetic about the meaningful involvement of affected communities at every level. These tools — and the courage to not only use our voices but to also, critically, create space and elevate those of communities — are equally vital across global health and human rights, where shrinking civic space makes speaking up both harder and more necessary.

Today, more than ever, our collective strength lies in refusing silence. In choosing to speak. In holding space for truth, evidence, lived experience, and the communities at the heart of this response.

Below you’ll find a short World AIDS Day social media toolkit to support your messaging today.

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Suggested Social Media Posts

• You can cancel a commemoration, but you can’t cancel a crisis. The AIDS epidemic is still taking lives and widening inequalities. Leaders must step up, fund the fight, and defend human rights. #WorldAIDSDay #EndAIDS
• Lives are on the line. Cutting funding now moves us further from ending AIDS, not closer. We need solidarity, commitment, and investment — not silence. #WorldAIDSDay #HumanRights