The world on Monday marks World AIDS Day 2025 under the theme “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response,” with concern raised over new infections among young people and adolescents.
Latest WHO data shows an estimated 40.8 million people are living with HIV worldwide, including about 610,000 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
The region has recorded a sharp surge in new infections, nearly doubling from 37,000 cases in 2016 to 72,000 in 2024. Despite this increase, fewer than four in ten people with HIV in the region know their status, and less than a third are receiving treatment.
WHO says the global HIV response has reached a critical juncture as funding declines, threatening decades of progress. The organisation warns that HIV services are increasingly disrupted, particularly in conflict-affected areas, while community-led programmes, essential for reaching marginalised groups, are being sidelined.
Although HIV is now considered a treatable chronic condition due to advancements in therapy, WHO notes that stronger domestic financing and improved service delivery are urgently needed to keep countries on track to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
The agency highlights persistent challenges, including overreliance on dwindling donor funding, stigma and discrimination, punitive legal environments, and limited access to community-based services. Without immediate action, WHO cautions, countries risk rising infections and deaths, greater strain on health systems, and missing global targets.
This year, WHO is urging governments to prioritise HIV on national health agendas by increasing domestic investment, integrating HIV care into broader health services, expanding innovative service delivery models, and scaling up prevention and community engagement initiatives. Enhanced surveillance and more targeted interventions are also part of the recommended strategy.
“Today, I call on all governments to raise public awareness, increase domestic funding, integrate HIV into broader health services, adopt innovative approaches and strengthen prevention through digital health and AI,” said Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
“WHO will stand with our countries and communities to build a stronger, fairer AIDS response for everyone, everywhere in our Region.”
In Kenya, authorities say the number of new HIV infections rose to more than 19,990 new HIV infections in 2024, with total infections now at 1.3 million cases.
The increment of more than 3,200 new cases from the previous year, undermines the government’s ambition of making Kenya HIV/AIDS-free by 2030.
The State is also concerned about rising HIV infections among young people and adolescents, calling for more effort to curb the cases.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, reading a speech by President William Ruto on Sunday, November 30, 2025, said the twin challenges of HIV and AIDS, coupled with rising teenage pregnancies continue to weigh heavily on this vital segment of our population.
"HIV and AIDS remains one of the world's most significant public health challenges, particularly in low and middle-income countries, including Kenya. The fact that it hits hard at the most vulnerable members of the society, the poor, the marginalised and women and Children who bear most of the burden of the epidemic, makes the situation even trickier," Musalia said.
