December 1 commemorates World AIDS Day – a day of awareness and support for those living with HIV/AIDS, as well as a global remembrance for those who have died from AIDS-related illnesses. In an effort to combat this global public health issue, the theme of this year’s World AIDS Day puts the focus on the impact that community leadership can have in ending the HIV epidemic, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Stephanie Kurdach, Infectious Disease Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The theme of World AIDS Day 2023 is ‘Let Communities Lead’. This will involve leveraging the potential of the communities most affected by HIV to enable the end of AIDS.”

The call to action on World AIDS Day 2023 includes making communities’ leadership roles central to all HIV programs and fully funding communities’ leadership roles. Further, any barriers surrounding these roles should be removed, thereby providing safe, enabling, and empowering working conditions. Health workers and public health leaders are also encouraged to get involved by advocating for access to essential HIV services and working to combat stigma and discrimination.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2022, 1.3 million people acquired HIV, and 630,000 people died from HIV-related causes worldwide. Over 63,000 of these incident cases of HIV occurred across the 7MM* in 2022, according to GlobalData.

Kurdach continues: “In spite of the significant disease burden, there is currently no cure for HIV infection. However, with the use of antiretroviral therapies (ART) for prophylaxis and treatment, HIV is now recognized as a manageable chronic health condition. According to GlobalData, the HIV therapeutics market within the 7MM is currently worth around $27 billion.”

Additionally, the WHO, the Global Fund, and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have implemented an agenda for sustainable development that hopes to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, in part by reducing the rate of incident cases. The Global Health Sector Strategies (GHSS) on HIV reported a global value of 0.18 new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population in 2021. The goal to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic calls for a reduction of this number to 0.05 by 2025 and 0.025 by 2030.

Kurdach concludes: “Reducing the transmission of HIV is just as important as reducing the stigma attached to an HIV diagnosis. This is why community leadership’s fight to end injustices against those affected by HIV/AIDS is so important. World AIDS Day provides an important opportunity for communities to raise awareness and lead the way to ending the HIV epidemic.”

*7MM: The US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan