2026 UNITED NATIONS
HIGH-LEVEL MEETING
ON HIV/AIDS
A defining global moment for the future of the HIV response
The United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS brings together governments, civil society, and global partners to agree on a new Political Declaration that will shape the direction of the HIV response worldwide. The outcomes of this meeting will influence funding, access to prevention and treatment, and accountability for years to come.
KEY MOMENTS IN THE PROCESS
MAY 14, 2026
Multi-Stakeholder Hearing
JUNE 22-23, 2026
United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS
Download the advocacy brief and join efforts to help shape the 2026 United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV/AIDS.
GBGMC’s Executive Director has been elected to the Multi-Stakeholder Task Force (MSTF), representing the perspectives of gay and bisexual men globally in the lead-up to the 2026 High-Level Meeting.
The 2026 United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS (HLM), taking place June 22–23, is a critical moment that will shape global priorities, funding, and accountability in the HIV response for the coming years.
The 2026 High-Level Meeting comes at a decisive moment for the global HIV response. Scientific innovation is accelerating, with long-acting prevention and treatment tools offering real potential to transform outcomes. However, progress in science is not being matched by political will, sustainable financing, human rights protections, or meaningful community leadership.
Across many countries, HIV remains disproportionately concentrated among key populations, including gay men and other men who have sex with men, trans people, sex workers, people who use drugs, and people in prisons. Yet these same communities are increasingly being softened in language, excluded from funding priorities, or erased from national and global commitments altogether.
For Black gay men and other key populations, these decisions are not abstract. Political Declarations directly influence:
The 2026 United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS (HLM), taking place June 22–23, is a critical moment that will shape global priorities, funding, and accountability in the HIV response for the coming years.
As part of the MSTF, GBGMC recognizes its responsibility to ensure these realities are not sidelined. While governments will ultimately negotiate and adopt the Political Declaration, this process is shaped long before final decisions are made, through agenda-setting, framing, and whose voices are included or excluded.
The 2026 Political Declaration must not retreat from the commitments made in 2021. It must:
• Clearly name and prioritize key populations
• Protect and fund community-led responses
• Safeguard human rights and civic space
• Ensure equitable access to new HIV technologies, including long-acting PrEP
Without deliberate action, there is a real risk that innovation will once again reach those who are easiest to serve, while Black gay men, trans communities, and criminalized populations are left behind.
What This Means
The 2026 High-Level Meeting is not just another global gathering; it is a political checkpoint that will shape the future of the HIV response. What comes out of this process will determine:
• Who is visible in national HIV strategies
• How resources are allocated
• Whether community systems survive or shrink
• Who benefits from new prevention and treatment innovations
• If key populations are not explicitly included, they are effectively excluded from funding,
services, and progress.
• Ending AIDS is not just a scientific challenge. It is a political one.
It requires rights-based approaches, sustainedinvestment, and trust in
communities to lead.








































