The global fight against HIV/AIDS is at a critical turning point, with new data from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) warning that reductions in international funding and cuts to prevention and community health services are threatening decades of progress against the epidemic.
A special report released on Monday at the 26th International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, revealed that an estimated 1.2 million people acquired HIV in 2025, while 570,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses, underscoring the fragility of the global response despite significant scientific advances.
According to UNAIDS, unless urgent action is taken to meet global targets by 2030, more than three million additional people could become infected with HIV over the coming years.
Although HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths remain at their lowest levels in more than three decades, the agency warned that the gains achieved since the peak of the epidemic are increasingly under threat.
The report showed that around nine million of the estimated 41 million people living with HIV were not receiving life-saving antiretroviral treatment in 2025, while nearly half of all children living with the virus lacked access to treatment.
Progress has also become increasingly uneven. While seven countries—Benin, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Nepal, Rwanda and Zimbabwe—have reduced new HIV infections by almost 80 per cent since 2010, infections increased across three regions and in 21 countries during 2025.
UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said recent scientific breakthroughs have transformed HIV prevention, with long-acting injectable medicines now offering protection levels approaching those of vaccines. However, she stressed that these innovations will have little impact without affordable and equitable access.
“Scientific breakthroughs are giving us tools that previous generations could only dream of,” Byanyima said. “However, innovation without access is not innovation—it is injustice. The real measure of success is whether people who need these medicines can obtain them at prices they can afford.”
Countries such as Brazil, Ethiopia, Uganda and South Africa have expanded access to HIV prevention medicines through domestic investments and negotiations to lower drug prices. However, UNAIDS noted that access remains limited globally, despite promising developments including twice-yearly injectable prevention drugs such as lenacapavir.
While UNITAID, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and development partners aim to reach three million people with lenacapavir by 2028, UNAIDS estimates that at least 20 million people require access to antiretroviral-based prevention to significantly reduce new HIV infections worldwide.
