On 1 December 2025, Papua New Guinea joined the global community in marking World AIDS Day, a moment to remember those we have lost, celebrate progress made, and renew our collective commitment to ending HIV as a public health threat.
World AIDS Day 2025 was marked globally under the annual theme led by UNAIDS, calling for renewed leadership, shared responsibility, and sustained action to end AIDS. In Papua New Guinea, the day was observed under a national theme that emphasised community leadership, partnership, and the urgent need to respond to rising HIV infections across the country.
Across PNG, World AIDS Day was commemorated through community events, awareness activities, outreach, and national and provincial ceremonies. These celebrations brought together government leaders, health workers, community organisations, advocates, and people with lived experience, reinforcing the message that HIV is everyone’s responsibility and that communities must remain at the centre of the response.
Key Populations Advocacy Consortium PNG played an active role in World AIDS Day 2025, supporting community-led engagement, outreach, and advocacy activities, particularly in the National Capital District. Through its networks and partnerships, KPAC helped amplify community voices, promote access to testing and prevention, and strengthen messages around dignity, inclusion, and stigma-free services.
World AIDS Day 2025 came at a critical moment for PNG. With increasing HIV notifications and ongoing challenges in access to services, the day served as both a reminder of the urgency of the response and a call to action for stronger coordination between communities, government, and partners.
For KPAC, World AIDS Day is not just a single day of recognition, but part of an ongoing commitment to building a strong, coordinated, and community-led HIV response. The themes reflected in World AIDS Day 2025 align closely with KPAC’s work to strengthen community leadership, expand safe access points for services, and ensure that key and vulnerable populations are not left behind.
As Papua New Guinea looks ahead, World AIDS Day 2025 reaffirmed an important truth. Ending HIV requires sustained investment, partnership, and trust in communities to lead. KPAC remains committed to working alongside its partners to ensure that the momentum generated on World AIDS Day continues throughout the year, translating awareness into action and action into impact.
