Zero HIV Stigma Day returns on 21 July 2025 with global call to action: “Awareness to Action: Our Path to 2030”

15 JULY 2025 (London, UNITED KINGDOM) – Naz is proud to launch the third annual Zero HIV Stigma Day on July 21, 2025, under the theme “Awareness to Action: Our Path to 2030.”

With just five years left to reach the global goal of ending new HIV transmissions by 2030, this year’s campaign calls on governments, international organisations, advocates, and communities to translate awareness into bold, equitable action, centring the dignity, rights, and voices of people living with HIV.

Why Now?

Stigma remains the single greatest barrier to ending HIV. It undermines testing, treatment, and care, fuelling fear, silence, and systemic exclusion. People living with HIV continue to face discrimination in housing, employment, and healthcare, even within legal systems where HIV transmission is decriminalised.

According to UNAIDS’ 2024 World AIDS Day report, Take the Rights Path, stigma is a critical driver of poor health outcomes and high mortality rates. Many people living with HIV avoid testing or drop out of care due to fear of discrimination or nonconsensual disclosure of their status. These outcomes worsen when stigma intersects with race, gender, sexuality, migration status, or disability.

A Growing Global Movement

Since its founding in 2023 to honour the South African HIV activist Prudence Nobantu Mabele, Zero HIV Stigma Day has grown into a global campaign. The #ZeroHIVStigmaDay hashtag has reached over 1 million people to date, and momentum continues to build.

The campaign is proudly supported by a coalition of international partners, including UNAIDS, the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on HIV/AIDS, Department of Health and Social Care, the Centre for Disease Control, the US Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Parminder Sekhon, Chief Executive of Naz, shared: “We are on a momentous journey to relegate HIV to the history books, yet stigma remains our greatest barrier. This year’s Zero HIV Stigma Day theme, “Awareness to Action: Our Path to 2030”, is a call for global action, urging everyone to stand together in solidarity. Never has there been a disease in the 20th century so stigmatising and pernicious in its impact, nor a health area where those affected have led the fight with uncompromising and relentless determination. Stigma undermines all the progress we have made, preventing people from living their truth and the best, most unapologetic life they could be living. Stand with us on 21st July.”

What’s Happening on 21 July?

This year’s day of action includes:

• A social media solidarity campaign, inviting people to post messages of love and support using #ZeroHIVStigmaDay

• The release of the 2025 Social Media Toolkit for activists, organisations, and allies

• An in-person event in London, hosted in partnership with Edelman UK, amplifying community voices

• Global partner activations, educational content, and calls for legislative and systemic reform

Join the Movement

You can take part in Zero HIV Stigma Day by:

• Sharing a message of solidarity on social media using #ZeroHIVStigmaDay

• Following the campaign on Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok

• Visiting zerohivstigmaday.com for resources, partnerships, and campaign updates

Let’s create a future where no one is shamed, silenced, or excluded for living with HIV. It’s time to move from awareness to action.