World AIDS Day, celebrated on December 1, also marks the beginning of Red December, a month dedicated to raising awareness about HIV and AIDS. Throughout the month, actions around the world seek to combat misinformation and discrimination and to reinforce health care for the population.

In a message posted on social media, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that, for the first time in many years, decades of progress are at risk due to the interruption of essential programs, cuts in international funding, reduced community support, and punitive laws that restrict access to care in many countries, especially for vulnerable populations.

“Ending AIDS means empowering communities, investing in prevention, and expanding access to treatment for all people.”

“This World AIDS Day reminds us that we have the power to transform lives and futures and to end the AIDS epidemic once and for all,” added the Secretary-General.

Currently, 40.8 million people worldwide are living with HIV. In 2024, data from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) indicate that 1.3 million new infections occurred and that 9.2 million people still do not have access to treatment.

Brazil

The Ministry of Health points out that from 1980 to 2024, Brazil recorded 1,165,599 cases of infection, with an annual average of 36,000 new cases in the last five years.

Alexandre Padilha, Minister of Health, highlighted the Brazilian government’s achievements in combating the virus.

“Brazil has much to celebrate today, with reduced mortality and the elimination of vertical transmission as a public health problem - achievements made possible by the country’s public healthcare network, the SUS, and our National Program to Combat AIDS.”

The minister admits that, despite the advances, the date also serves to alert and address inequalities in universal access to prevention and ongoing care.

“There is still much to warn about, much to improve, to care for people, in access to health, in combating stigma, in prevention,” Padilha posted on social media.

Goals

Brazil is a signatory to the World Health Organization (WHO) proposal to eliminate AIDS as a public health problem by 2030.

The country has set goals to diagnose 95 percent of people living with HIV and/or AIDS, treat 95 percent of those diagnosed, and ensure that at least 95 percent of those in treatment achieve suppressed viral loads (below 1,000 copies/mL) by 2030.

In addition to these targets, two others were also established: reducing both the HIV incidence rate and the number of AIDS-related deaths by 90 percent by 2030, compared with 2010 levels.

HIV/AIDS in numbers

Brazil’s AIDS detection rate stands at 17.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with higher rates among individuals aged 25 to 34. The main route of transmission remains sexual (75.3%) among people aged 13 and over.

From 1980 to June 2024, the highest concentration of cases was observed in individuals aged 25 to 39, with a predominance in males (68.4%).

The age group over 60 years old showed a 33.9 percent increase in cases when comparing 2015 and 2023 (from 2,216 to 2,968).

Specifically in 2023, 46,495 cases of HIV infection were reported in Brazil, representing a 4.5 percent increase over the previous year. Of these cases, 49.7 percent were self-declared dark brown and 13.5 percent self-declared black people, and 53.6 percent occurred in men who have sex with men.

Among pregnant women, 166,237 cases of HIV have been reported since 2000, with an increasing detection rate that reached 3.3 cases per thousand live births in 2023. This reflects a 33.2 percent rise over the last decade. In 2023, 53.1 percent ocurred with dark brown and 14.3 percent with black pregnant women, and among those aged 20 to 29 (51.0%).

In 2023, the number of deaths from AIDS was 10,338; of these, 48.0 percent occurred among dark brown people, 15.0 percent among black people, and 34.9 percent among white people. In the analysis by gender, there were 21 deaths among men for every ten deaths among women.

Caravans from different parts of Brazil will hold a large march this Tuesday (Nov. 25) in Brasília: the 2nd Black Women’s March, whose theme is Reparation and Good Living. The event is expected to bring together 1 million people.

Organized by the National Committee of the Black Women’s March, the mobilization seeks to put the basic rights of this segment of the population on the agenda — such as housing, employment, and security — as well as a dignified life, free from violence, and reparations.

The march takes place in the month that celebrates National Black Awareness Day, on November 20.

It occurs ten years after the first march, held in November 2015, when more than 100,000 black women gathered in Brazil’s capital to protest against racism, violence targeting black youth, domestic violence, and femicide, which disproportionately affect them, and to demand the right to live well rather than merely survive.

This year, black women will march for the promotion of social mobility, considering the damage left by centuries of slavery, which has become an obstacle to the economic development of this population.

Space for articulation

The 2025 march extends beyond Brazil’s borders. To strengthen global coordination, the demonstration will bring together black women in the diaspora (descendants of Africans forced into displacement) and from the African continent who are committed to building a future free from the violence imposed by racism, colonialism, and patriarchy.

Black leaders from Ecuador are in Brasília to take part in the 2025 March. According to the Ecuadorian group, the goal is to deepen and expand awareness of the struggles of Afro-Latin, Afro-Caribbean, and diaspora women.

Ines Morales Lastra, an activist from San Lorenzo (Ecuador) and a member of the Afro-Ecuadorian Confederation of Northern Esmeraldas (Cane), explains that they defend the collective rights and ancestral territories of the Afro-Ecuadorian people and that they traveled to Brasília to join the women’s struggle.

“We will march to amplify the strength of our voice and our demands, because these are the voices of our grandmothers,” Lastra stated.

According to the Ministry of Racial Equality, women and girls will total 60.6 million people in Brazil, divided between black (11.30 million) and brown (49.30 million). Together, they represent about 28 percent of the country’s population.

See here the official schedule of the 2nd Black Women’s March and the Week for Reparation and Good Living, which will run until Wednesday (26).