Global Reference on HIV Literacy will be available for download from 2 April 2026
HIV literacy has long been a cornerstone of the global HIV response. It enables people living with HIV and the communities around them to understand prevention options, navigate treatment pathways, and access the care and support they need.
Its impact reaches across the response: improving health outcomes, sustaining engagement in services, driving demand, and supporting adherence to life-saving treatment.
HIV literacy also strengthens communities’ capacity to advocate for equitable, high-quality, people-centered responses, which is central to the global commitment to end AIDS as a public health threat.
Communities at the centre of progress
Communities have always driven progress. Through leadership rooted in lived experience, they have translated scientific advances into real access, real dignity, and real hope. When people have clear, accurate, and up-to-date information, they are better equipped to prevent HIV, test early, initiate treatment, and maintain long-term health.
In a moment defined by rapid scientific innovation alongside growing misinformation, social isolation, and shrinking civic space, trusted, community-responsive HIV literacy is not a nice-to-have. It is urgent and essential.
Building resilient, people-centred HIV responses starts with informed communities
In response, ITPC, with the support of UNAIDS and guided by a Global Community Technical Advisory Board grounded in lived experience, developed this practical and adaptable resource.
The guide is designed to support people living with HIV, key populations, young people, and the networks and partners that serve them. It is built for real-world use: to strengthen treatment literacy, increase demand for services, support adherence, inform monitoring and research, and equip communities to identify barriers and drive solutions, even in constrained or rapidly shifting environments.
Governments, donors, implementers, and civil society organizations are encouraged to adapt this resource to their local contexts, invest in community leadership, and ensure that HIV literacy remains a central pillar of resilient, people-centered HIV responses.