Hosted for Dira Sengwe

Chair: Dr Candice Chetty-Makkan
Co-Chair: Dr Kate Rees
Date: 08-11 September 2025

Attendance Breakdown
Number of Delegates: 1485
Number of Speakers: 250
Exhibitors: 126

Overview:

The 12th South African AIDS Conference took place 8–11 September 2025 at Emperors Palace, Johannesburg, under the theme “Unite for Change – Empower Communities and Redefine Priorities for HIV/AIDS.” It brought together policymakers, researchers, healthcare providers, civil society, and community advocates to assess progress and chart future strategies to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat.

Key Highlights and Achievements

• Emphasized community empowerment and inclusive, people-centred HIV responses.
• Highlighted progress toward 95-95-95 targets, while identifying persistent gaps in treatment initiation and retention.
• Launched the “Close the Gap – Start and Stay on HIV Treatment” campaign targeting 1.1 million people living with HIV not yet on treatment.
• Presented the HIV Prevention Roadmap 2025–2028 to guide evidence-based, community-led prevention strategies.
• Strengthened civil society engagement and advocacy for youth-led programmes, policy reform, and community monitoring.
• Stressed the importance of data-driven, multi-sectoral approaches to guide interventions, improve service delivery, and ensure equitable access.
• Promoted transparency, sustainable funding, and integration of innovative prevention and treatment tools.

The conference reinforced South Africa’s leadership in the HIV response, emphasizing collaborative, evidence-informed, and community-driven strategies to close gaps and accelerate progress toward ending AIDS as a public health threat.