My Fight for Equality and Justice

It will take more than just science to end AIDS. Inclusion, empathy and compassion are essential, too

- ELTON JOHN

IN 2024, WE HAVE SEEN MORE incredible scientific breakthroughs in the HIV response, with new long-acting prevention medicines offering real hope of ending HIV transmission.

Just as these scientific advances demonstrate the best of humanity, we are living through times where the worst of humanity is laid bare, where dehumanization and suffering are rife, and where one life is considered more important than another.

Approximately 9.3 million people living with HIV are not receiving treatment. Marginalized groups-the LGBTQ+ community, people who use drugs, women and girls do not get the same access to health information, medicines and support because their circumstances somehow make them undeserving. Shockingly, 44 percent of all new HIV infections worldwide are among women and girls. The risk of acquiring HIV is 23 times higher for gay men and other men who have sex with men than for people in the general population.

Inequality threatens our future.

Stigma and discrimination, fear and neglect are pushing millions of people away from lifesaving health services and standing in the way of ending AIDS as a public health threat. This is heartbreaking to me, both personally and as the founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.