Global Health – World AIDS Day (December 1, 2025)

On this World AIDS Day, France – a longtime contributor to Unitaid and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria – reaffirms its absolute commitment to end the epidemic by 2030.

Major progress was made in 2024. Thanks to the French contribution to the Global Fund, 2.56 million people were able to receive treatment for HIV. That same year, an additional 80,000 people benefited from the Expertise France agency’s work in the area of HIV prevention and detection through projects supported by "L’Initiative". These results are particularly visible in seven countries of Southern Africa, where 95% of those infected with HIV have been diagnosed and are receiving antiretroviral treatment. Another eight countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are on the same path.

The marketing of lenacapavir, a long-term preventive treatment with near 100% effectiveness, is a promising development. Thanks to Unitaid, it will be possible to produce and distribute generic versions of this drug in 120 low- and middle-income countries for just $40 per year, starting in 2027.

But the HIV/AIDS epidemic has not been eradicated. In 2024, more than 630,000 people died of HIV-related causes and 1.3 million people were newly infected by HIV.

That is why France will continue to support access to care, particularly for vulnerable and marginalized populations, and to strengthen healthcare systems, for the sake of our collective health security. France calls on all international community stakeholders to continue mobilizing all their efforts to defeat this epidemic by 2030.