Ending all forms of discrimination is fundamental to an effective HIV response. Evidence consistently shows that discriminatory laws and stigma restrict access to healthcare and undermine HIV prevention, treatment and care. In recent years, troubling political shifts have contributed to a rise in discriminatory laws and a broader erosion of human rights. In 2025, UNAIDS warned that the global HIV response was facing its most serious setbacks in decades, including the first increase since 2008 in the number of countries criminalizing gender diversity and same-sex relationships. These regressive developments underscore the urgent need to prioritize zero discrimination, which is essential for protecting health, upholding dignity and securing the future of the HIV response.
This viewpoint highlights the rise in anti-transgender rhetoric and policies and their impact on key population-focused HIV programmes, and calls for the protection of affected communities. The authors discuss the increasingly hostile legal and political environments towards trans people, which further threaten engagement in HIV prevention and treatment. The article sets out recommendations for trans-inclusive global objectives to advance zero discrimination, including strengthening rights-based, community-led, well-funded and inclusive systems for transgender health and HIV care. As anti-transgender movements intensify, the authors stress that without protecting the dignity, bodily autonomy and equitable access to services for trans people, global HIV goals will remain out of reach.
The Journal of the International AIDS Society is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal, which publishes HIV-related research from various disciplines and particularly encourages submissions in implementation sciences.
