GJI Statement on World AIDS Day

December 1st, 2025 | For Immediate Release

World AIDS Day, observed annually on December 1st, is more than a mere health awareness day; it is a critical global moment of remembrance and recommitment. 

Established in 1988, the day serves to honor the more than 32 million lives lost to AIDS-related illnesses and to demonstrate international solidarity with the 39 million people worldwide currently living with HIV. Its core purpose is to maintain political urgency, push back against societal stigma, and fuel the momentum required to meet the 2030 goal of ending the epidemic.

The day’s importance lies in its ability to galvanize funding for life-saving initiatives. World AIDS Day centers global health equity and underscores that stigma and discrimination remain dangerous barriers to testing and treatment. It serves as a reminder that complacency is deadly in the ongoing fight against a preventable and manageable disease. Former presidents have acknowledged HIV care and prevention to be a matter of national security. The U.S. government's current dismissal of the day is profoundly egregious. 

The instruction by the White House administration to skip the formal commemoration of World AIDS Day, coupled with cuts to HIV prevention funding (both domestically and globally) is a moral disgrace. To claim, as the current administration has done, that "awareness is not a strategy" is a cynical insult to the millions lost and a dangerous statement of apathy toward those currently living with HIV and it appears to place political messaging over public health.

World AIDS Day is meant to challenge the world to confront the ongoing reality of the epidemic. When our highest authorities choose silence or neglect, it highlights the need for increased community action. Continued progress requires both the tireless work of activists and consistent financial and rhetorical support from the government, ensuring the fight against HIV/AIDS remains a national priority.

The Global Justice Institute Council of Bishops is praying today for all who are living with HIV, for all who work to find a cure, and for all who lost loved ones far too soon to a viral assault that has taken too many.

May God’s healing love enfold us all.

Faithfully, 

Bishop Pat Bumgardner

Bishop Jim Merritt

Bishop Robert Griffin

Bishop Durrell Watkins