The Trump administration is choosing silence on World AIDS Day, but we're showing up louder than ever

For the first time since 1988, the U.S. government will not commemorate World AIDS Day.

With very little explanation and almost no lead time, it appears that the Trump Administration has decided to break with nearly 40 years of bipartisan precedent. In doing this, the administration also seems to be breaking once again with President Trump himself, who in 2019 called for the establishment of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, which led to a stunning 21% decline in new infections in America’s most affected jurisdictions.

Following a year of attacks on HIV funding, this is both an insult and an injury.

Here are the facts: Since 1988, the world has come together on December 1st to honor and grieve the 44 million individuals who have died from HIV/AIDS worldwide, including over 700,000 Americans. On this day, year after year, American presidents and policymakers across the political spectrum have, without interruption, commemorated the dead and recommitted to the fight to end the HIV epidemic.

For those of us who are among the 40 million individuals living with HIV worldwide, including 1.2 million Americans, World AIDS Day is a display of unity that honors the challenges we have overcome, and continue to face from unresolved HIV stigma.

For those of us who are desperately in need of comprehensive prevention services to stay HIV negative, including the 2.2 million Americans most in need of access to PrEP, this day is a beacon of hope, signaling that we may one day see an end to this epidemic once and for all.

For the uncounted hundreds of millions of individuals who have suffered the unimaginable loss of someone to AIDS, or who worry about the wellbeing of their loved ones living with or vulnerable to HIV, it is a time to find community, and express gratitude for the many activists, care providers, researchers, and policymakers who have fought and toiled in the streets, in clinics, in labs, and in the halls of state houses and Congress to improve the lives of every individual affected by HIV/AIDS. It is a day to educate, to find common ground, to heal.

For community and healthcare advocates, this erasure comes on top of a continued barrage of attacks on HIV treatment, prevention, and research, in tandem with attacks on communities most disproportionately impacted by HIV.

Since January, this administration has steadily fought to impound and rescind over $400 million in global PEPFAR funds, undermining an initiative credited with saving over 26 million lives since 2003.

In May, the Trump administration sent a Budget Request to Congress calling for $1 billion in cuts to HIV programs, setting the stage for the House majority to call for nearly $2 billion in cuts, including $525 million in cuts to the Ryan White Program - funding for services that literally keep people living with HIV alive. It is estimated that if these funding cuts are enacted, they will result in hundreds of thousands of new HIV infections in the US alone and tens of billions in unnecessary healthcare costs. These efforts not only undermine our nation’s accomplished legacy on HIV/AIDS, but also fly in the face of long-time Republican support for these efforts. President George H.W. Bush signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Care Act into law; President George W. Bush launched PEPFAR; and President Trump launched the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Initiative.

Historically, World AIDS Day is a noncontroversial day of remembrance and an opportunity to highlight bipartisan successes, including those achieved by President Trump’s EHE program. So, it’s quite unclear to us as to why the Trump Administration has cancelled both the White House’s and the federal government’s acknowledgement of this important day.

Past World AIDS Day remembrances have featured the accomplishments of global HIV programs; perhaps the administration wants to skip discussing how PEPFAR funding disruptions have led to greater death and illness around the globe. Sadly, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has stated that he does not believe that HIV causes AIDS, despite indisputable evidence and scientific consensus on the topic, leading to worries that his wild conspiracy theories are proliferating throughout the administration. Whatever the cause, this administration has positioned itself as a clear outlier on the topic of HIV.

This World AIDS Day, it is up to other leaders - members of Congress, community advocates, care providers, researchers, and state and local leaders - to say that HIV is a vital issue to fund and support not only this week, but next week and every week until we have eradicated HIV forever.

Despite the challenges, we still fight.

The Save HIV Funding campaign, which has successfully galvanized thousands of advocates and hundreds of organizations to educate federal policymakers on the importance of protecting funding for HIV programs, resulting in unequivocal bipartisan wins.

In July, advocates successfully protected PEPFAR funds from being rescinded by Congress, with bipartisan support. Advocates also successfully persuaded the Senate Appropriations Committee to pass bipartisan FY26 appropriations bills that maintained funding for almost all domestic HIV programs, including a $24 million increase for housing.

We are proof that together, when united, we can fight for change – and win.

Yes, World AIDS Day is about coming together to remember loved ones and share in shared pain. But it is also about recommitting to the fight to ensure that we move forward, to reject a deadly return to government inaction.

This week, the Save HIV Funding Campaign embarks on a Week of Action to highlight World AIDS Day, and we invite you in with events from Capitol Hill to the Golden Coast and America’s Heartland.

What we’ve known since the 1980s still rings true today: silence equals death.

So be loud.

Jeremiah Johnson is a lead organizer of the Save HIV Funding campaign and the Executive Director of PrEP4All, a national nonprofit working to advance policy that ensures access to PrEP and HIV treatment to help end the HIV epidemic. Maxx Boykin is the campaign manager for the Save HIV Funding Campaign. Both have been instrumental in leading the national campaign that has averted $1.5 billion in domestic HIV funding cuts since 2023.