To end the AIDS pandemic, let communities lead

The Philippines has a fantastic opportunity. It can end the AIDS pandemic by 2030, by letting communities lead.

Communities of people living with HIV or at risk of HIV are the drivers of progress in the AIDS response. They connect people to public health services, build trust, innovate, monitor the implementation of policies and services and hold service providers accountable.

The contribution of the community-led organizations in the AIDS response has helped tackle other pandemics and health crises too, including COVID-19, Mpox and Ebola. Letting communities lead builds healthier and stronger societies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of community-led services was instrumental in continuing delivery of HIV services while government facilities were focused on COVID-19 response. Community-led organizations such as the Rajah Community Center in Iloilo City and the HIV and AIDS Support House (HASH) were able to continue providing HIV services to key populations. The use of telemedicine by these community-led facilities ensured that medical consultation for people living with HIV remained available even during the height of pandemic-related lockdowns.

But so many communities face barriers to their leadership. Community-led responses are under-recognized, under-resourced and, in some places, even under attack. Globally, funding channeled through communities has fallen in the past 10 years from 31 percent in 2012 to 20 percent in 2021.

These funding shortages, policy and regulatory hurdles, capacity constraints, crackdowns on civil society and on the human rights of marginalized communities are obstructing the progress of HIV prevention, treatment and care services.

It is in everyone’s interest to fully fund community-led organizations and remove the many obstacles they face. It is by enabling communities in their leadership that the promise to end AIDS can be realized.

This is why communities are at the center of World AIDS Day commemorations this year, including in the new UNAIDS report “Let Communities Lead.”

The report sets out the facts and figures that demonstrate communities’ impact and shares how progress is being driven by communities through case