HIV Heroes
For decades, HIV has been one of the world’s most serious public health challenges, with more than 75 million infections globally.
Today, the vast majority of people living with HIV are in low- and middle-income countries, including 20.6 million in eastern and southern Africa, 5 million in western and central Africa, and 6 million in Asia and the Pacific. An estimated 1.7 million people worldwide became newly infected with HIV in 2018, and about 20 percent of people living with HIV don’t know their status – the first step toward accessing treatment.
Yet we are closer to ending the AIDS epidemic than ever before, and increasingly, it is local people and organizations that are leading the way,
from community volunteers and activists
to local nonprofits and public health and social service agencies.
From Africa to Asia, Pact is helping to build this local HIV response from the ground up – one that is effective and sustainable precisely because it is locally led.
Every day, in their own communities, these individuals and organizations are fighting against the forces that fuel HIV – stigma, fear, misinformation, gender-based violence and economic inequality. They are fighting for an AIDS-free future.