Civil society representatives are demanding an urgent price reduction for long-acting injectable HIV medicines which prevent HIV.

During a public hearing at the Chamber of Deputies in Brazil, representatives called for strategies to expand access to innovative injectable HIV medications, including lenacapavir and cabotegravir, which have demonstrated more than 95% efficacy in preventing HIV infection.

The discussion was organized by The Committee on Human Rights, Minorities, and Racial Equality and brought together representatives of pharmaceutical companies, the government, and civil society.

“We are talking about rights,” stated Congresswoman Erika Kokay. “It is not a consumer relationship, it is a relationship of human rights and health that allows the population to take ownership of their own research. We are talking about a country where more than 10,000 people die every year due to AIDS-related illnesses.” 

Despite Brazil being one of the countries which participated in the lenacapavir clinical trials (together with Argentina, Mexico, and Peru) it has been excluded from the list of countries that have received a licence to produce its generic version.

“Brazil was excluded from the licence because it is considered a middle-income country, which does not reflect the intense inequalities that exist in Brazil,” pointed out Susana Van der Ploeg, coordinator of Working Group on Intellectual Property. “In 2022, 23% of new HIV infections occurred in countries that were excluded from the licence, including countries that participated in clinical studies,” she added. 

According to UNAIDS, Latin America is one of three regions in the world where the annual number of new HIV infections has increased, representing 13% of all new HIV infections between 2010 and 2024.

“When an innovation can save people’s lives but does not reach the people who need it, can we really consider it an innovation?” said Luciana de Melo, HIV/AIDS Coordinator at the Ministry of Health. “Price is a key issue in the incorporation of medicines to the country’s health system” 

Cabotegravir, registered by ViiV Healthcare, is an injection administered once every two months to prevent HIV. The drug was approved by the Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) in 2023 and launched on the Brazilian private market in August 2025. Currently, its average cost is R$ 4,000 per dose (U$ 740), around 2,5 times the minimum wage in Brazil. According to Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, 31.8% of the population lived on an income between one and three minimum wages in 2023. There is still no date for the drug to be offered through Brazilian health system. 

Lenacapavir, from the pharmaceutical company Gilead, is administered once every six months and is in the process of being registered for use in HIV prevention. Gilead has not yet announced the price of the drug to be used for HIV prevention in Brazil but its cost in the United States for treatment was recorded at over US$ 28,000 per person per year. 

An article published in The Lancet magazine presents a different perspective for the generic version. The study projects that the cost of generic lenacapavir could range from as low as US$ 35 to US$ 46 per person per year. In addition, growth in demand could reduce this amount to US$ 25 per person per year if there were a committed demand of five to ten million people. 

“We will not be able to reach our goals if we do not view access to health as a human right,” said Andrea Boccardi Vidarte, UNAIDS Country Director, Brazil. 

Watch the full hearing (in Portuguese): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcBecwT-WzY 

GENEVA, 5 September 2025—UNAIDS welcomes the announcement by the US State Department that the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) will be supporting an initiative by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria to provide lenacapavir to up to 2 million people in countries with high burdens of HIV.

Lenacapavir, an American-based innovation, is one of the most promising new HIV prevention tools that has emerged in the HIV response, offering protection against HIV with just twice-yearly injections. The breakthrough medicine will save thousands of lives if made widely available for all people and populations at risk of HIV including young women and adolescent girls as well as sex workers, people who inject drugs, and men who have sex with men in high burden countries and geographies.

"This deal offers hope that many more people around the world who are at risk of HIV will have access to this revolutionary HIV medicine. More global work will be needed to increase scale and rapidly make lenacapavir available, affordable and accessible in all low and middle-income countries. But at this critical moment, the United States’ backing of this breakthrough medicine is an important signal to the world that by investing in the HIV response we can stop new infections,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

An initial roll-out of 2 million is an important start toward a broader ambition and i t is important that lenacapavir be available to all people in need, not only to some. UNAIDS estimates that 20 million people will need to be reached with antiretroviral-based prevention such as lenacapavir as part of efforts to achieve the 2030 global HIV prevention targets. UNAIDS also estimates that for every US$ 1 invested in HIV prevention, US$ 7 will be saved in treatment and care costs later.

The price for lenacapavir in France, Norway, Spain and the United States in late 2024 exceeded US$ 28 000 per person per year. For this initiative, manufacturer Gilead has pledged to supply the medicine at no profit. Research published earlier this year showed that lenacapavir can be made and sold for just US$ 40 per person per year, falling to US$ 25 with sufficient scale.

To successfully expand access to lenacapavir, community engagement will be essential. To advance progress in the roll-out, populations most impacted by HIV must play a central role in its delivery and people most at risk of HIV must have access.

UNAIDS will continue to support countries and partners in driving the response to HIV forward to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to the HIV services they need and that AIDS is ended as a public health threat by 2030.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

GENEVA, 2 September 2025—From 1 to 30 September, a series of UNAIDS posters is on exhibit in Geneva along the Lac Leman. The posters dispel many of the mistruths about HIV and AIDS. While many people think they may be well-informed about the virus, in reality many misconceptions continue to circulate. Forty years after the first cases of HIV were identified, misinformation, stigma and discrimination still persist. Worse still, the information gap is widening, particularly among young people who are often most affected by HIV.

“Today, people often find themselves drowning in information, but many are still not necessarily better informed about HIV,” said Christine Stegling, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director. “This exhibit is designed to enlighten viewers about the current realities of HIV in the hope that they will learn how to protect themselves and be willing to support people living with HIV with more compassion.”

In 2024, UNAIDS estimates that there were 1.3 million new HIV infections - that’s 3 500 people newly infected with the virus every day. And although more than three quarters of the 40.8 million people living with HIV are on treatment, every minute, a person died of AIDS-related causes in 2024. In addition, people living with HIV still experience stigma and discrimination which prevents them from accessing HIV services. This includes treatment which stops transmission of the virus and keeps people alive and well. By knowing the facts and dispelling the myths, we can help break down the stigma and ensure that everyone feels safe to access HIV services, free from discrimination.

“HIV is preventable and, with treatment, people living with HIV stay healthy and cannot transmit the virus yet new infections still occur,” said Professor Alexandra Calmy, head of the infectious disease HIV unit at Hôpital de Genève (HUG.) “Campaigns like this remain essential, here and everywhere, to raise awareness and fight stigma.”

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, has put together this exhibition to dispel some of the myths around HIV and encourage people to know the facts, get tested and protect themselves against HIV.

"Sadly, there are still cases of discrimination against people living with HIV in Geneva and Switzerland," said Rocco Senatore, Director of the People living with HIV (PVA) network. “Many still ignore some of the basic facts about HIV thus the importance of such awareness campaigns."

The poster exhibit supported by the Ville de Genève will run until the end of the month in Geneva at the Rotonde du Mont-Blanc.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

This story first appeared in the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2025 report.

In early 2022, shortly after the full-scale invasion of eastern Ukraine, Kateryna was pregnant and caring for her young son and daughter. 

“We lived under constant shelling in Pokrovsk. For the sake of my children, I had to flee to give birth,” she says. She is originally from the Donetsk region in Ukraine, which by 2024 became the scene of intense fighting. 

Today, her hometown of Pokrovsk lies in ruins. With three children and no home to return to, Kateryna is trying to rebuild her life from scratch. 

Kateryna has found refuge in the city of Dnipro at a shelter run by the non-governmental organization 100% Life was established by UNAIDS with donor support. The shelter provides a safe environment for women living with HIV, including those with children. It is one of four such shelters in the Dnipropetrovsk region, offering vital humanitarian assistance and connections to HIV care for people who have lost everything. 

Since the beginning of the war, nearly 3.7 million people have been displaced within Ukraine. As the violence has escalated and people are forced to flee repeatedly, many people are living in areas of active fighting or under occupation. In this context, any reliable assessment of the rate of HIV among displaced people is impossible. 

Despite this, the health system in Ukraine, supported by humanitarian organizations and international donors, has made extraordinary efforts to ensure continued access to HIV treatment. From the first days of the invasion, the Public Health Center quickly distributed antiretroviral medicines to central and western regions, where most internally displaced people fled. Emergency stocks were concentrated in leading health facilities and, with the help of nongovernmental organizations, volunteers and partners, supply chains were rapidly restored. 

“In the early days of the war, hospitals in Lviv were overcrowded,” says Olenka Pavlyshyn, an infectious diseases specialist at the Center for Integrated Medical and Social Services. “But even then, there were no interruptions in antiretroviral therapy.” People received three- or six-month supplies of medicines, and treatment was provided based on medical need rather than documents or place of residence. 

The response also reached people who fled abroad. A total of 6.4 million Ukrainians have left the country, and many face barriers to health care in host countries. “In some European countries, our citizens still cannot get health insurance, so they have no access to medical care,” says Olenka. “Others are not ready to disclose their HIV status in a new environment, so these people come back to Ukraine every six months—and we give them the medicines they need for continued treatment while living abroad.” 

As the health system in Ukraine adapts to the demands of a displaced population inside the country and beyond its borders, pressure is growing. 

Ukraine was once a regional leader in transitioning from donor to domestic funding for health services, but its HIV resources are extremely constrained due to the war. The country now relies heavily on international assistance to sustain essential medical care, including HIV services. Although antiretroviral therapy has been secured, HIV services may be at risk due to cuts in United States funding. 

New HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths could rebound globally if the funding cuts are not recovered. Continued international support is critical to sustain the HIV response and ensure countless people caught in a war, like Kateryna, are not left behind.

This story first appeared in the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2025 report.

Gang violence in Haiti is contributing to a dire humanitarian crisis in a country where 5.7 million people face acute food insecurity and more than a million people are internally displaced, half of them children. In the country’s capital of Port-au-Prince, only 50% of healthcare facilities are operational, and access to essential health services, including HIV treatment, is severely limited. Amidst the escalating insecurity, ruthless sexual violence, including gang rape, is rampant, exacerbated by restricted or suspended gender-based violence services. 

More than 6500 incidents of gender-based violence were reported in 2024, although this number is likely to be significantly underreported. Nearly two-thirds of these incidents involved rape or sexual assault. Between 2023 and 2024, there was a shocking 1000% increase in sexual violence against children. 

“I was a victim of gang rape in 2021,” says 29-year-old Laguerre Myrline. “This happened when we had to abandon our home to flee the attacks of armed men. At the southern entrance of Port-au-Prince, I was assaulted by several men. They abused me one after the other. Traumatized, I didn’t even go to the hospital.” 

Women and children remain particularly at risk in this crisis. The Organization for Development and Poverty Reduction (ODELPA), a civil society organization supported by UNAIDS and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is implementing a transformative initiative aimed at reducing sexual and gender-based violence and other systematic violence in Cité Soleil, an impoverished and densely populated commune in Port-au-Prince. 

The initiative includes capacity building and economic empowerment via training on HIV prevention, prevention of gender-based violence and mental health support for girls, young women and men. Through these efforts, 180 beneficiaries have received startup funds to launch income-generating activities and businesses, helping them to break the cycle of financial dependence and offering a sustainable pathway to resilience and autonomy. 

The programme has been so successful that the training sessions have been replicated for more than 1000 members of grassroots community organizations. In addition, ODELPA launched a multimedia communication campaign to raise awareness and provide education on prevention of gender-based violence. 

The campaign reached more than 1.5 million people across Haiti and the Haitian diaspora through four radio programmes. The project applies a holistic approach that combines education, economic empowerment and community-driven solutions as key elements to breaking cycles of violence and inequality and ensuring girls and young women can reclaim their rights and dignity and their future. 

In Haiti, the recent funding cuts have had a huge effect on the national HIV response, which was almost 100% funded externally and almost entirely reliant on PEPFAR (which provided about 90% of HIV funding) and the Global Fund (which contributed the remaining 10% of funding). Civil society organizations have been significantly impacted by the funding cuts, particularly those that provide services for people from key, priority and vulnerable populations. This has increased vulnerability to stigma, discrimination and gender inequality, and weakened responses to sexual and gender-based violence. 

The youth project implemented by ODELPA and supported by UNAIDS and UNHCR is a small beacon of hope. Sustainable funding will be required to support the response to HIV in Haiti, including urgent renewed global solidarity

This story first appeared in the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2025 report.

In Colombia, Afro-descendant women are taking the HIV response into their own hands. Faced with racism, inequality and violence—factors that make them more vulnerable to HIV—they are organizing themselves, speaking out, and demanding better access to health care, protection and rights. 

In the Caribbean and Pacific coastal regions of Colombia, women represent half of all people diagnosed with HIV, compared with only a fifth at the national level. This gap is tied closely to gender inequality and other structural barriers such as violence and poor access to basic health services, including HIV testing and treatment. In addition, stigma—worsened by racism and sexism—makes it harder for many women to get an education, find work or receive proper medical care, leaving them more exposed to the risks of HIV. 

Armed conflict and forced displacement have affected communities, exacerbating poverty and exposure to violence, including sexual violence. 

UNAIDS, through the help of key donors, supports various organizations leading the HIV response in Afro-Colombian, Indigenous and rural communities. The Fundación Afro Mata ’e Pelo works to improve access to information on sexual and reproductive health in the Caribbean region of Colombia, where myths, stigma, discrimination and gaps in training among health workers remain common challenges. 

In the Valle del Cauca department, located along the Pacific coast and within the Andean region, Fundación RedLujo supports transgender women, sex workers and nonbinary people by using artistic and pedagogical strategies to raise awareness about HIV and advocate for inclusive public policies that guarantee access to HIV prevention and care. 

These organizations are bringing change to their communities, taking the lead in the response to HIV and pushing for fair, respectful access to health care. They work with Colombian Government institutions to make sure HIV prevention and care policies reflect local realities and include the voices and needs of communities. 

“It is a challenge to make women visible, especially in the contexts and territories where Black and Indigenous women live,” says Yaneth Valencia, HIV activist and founder of the Asociación Lila Mujer, a community-based organization focusing on women in southwestern Colombia. Through their sessions, women learn about HIV prevention and share their experiences. The organization advocates for better access to services and promotes the participation of women as agents of change in their territories. 

“These spaces of sisterhood—of comadreo, as we call them in the communities—allow us to talk with our comadres. These can be self-help groups or peer advisors with whom we can talk and trust. It is also about recovering all that ancestry that allows us to reconnect and resist because we not only exist—we resist in a macho, racist, classist and very white context.” 

Afro-descendant women are leading community efforts in Colombia to respond to HIV with a focus on human rights. They are ensuring the response meets the real needs of their communities. Their work gives a voice to people often left out of HIV efforts and defends their right to health and dignity.