World AIDS Day Report 2023

From the start of the HIV pandemic, one of the distinguishing features of the HIV response has been the central role played by communities. The invaluable innovation, passion and insight of communities have proven pivotal in getting the world to the point where there is a clear path to end AIDS as a public health threat.

When the HIV pandemic was first recognized in the early 1980s, opportunities to respond effectively were hampered by the dominance in too many places of top-down approaches that combined insufficient engagement with the communities most heavily affected with disrespect and even hostility towards them.