New HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths reached their lowest global levels in 2025, according to a report released on Monday (Jul. 27) by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

However, the organization warns that this progress is threatened by declining funding for prevention and treatment.

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Worldwide, 1.2 million new HIV infections were recorded, representing a reduction of about 40 percent since 2010. The number of AIDS-related deaths last year stood at 570,000.

On the other hand, new cases increased in 21 countries and three regions around the world. Brazil is among them and, according to UNAIDS, has expanded access to preventive medications by 41 percent in response to this rise.

The report was released ahead of the opening of the 26th International AIDS Conference, the world’s largest event on the disease, which opened on Monday (27) in Rio de Janeiro. This is the first time it has been held in Brazil.

End of the AIDS epidemic

UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima emphasized that ending the AIDS epidemic is no longer just an aspiration, but an achievable goal thanks to scientific innovations - especially injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which can protect people at risk of HIV infection for up to six months.

“This is one of the greatest opportunities we have to end the epidemic. But scientific advances alone will not end AIDS. Innovation without access is not innovation - it is injustice. These medications remain out of reach for most people who need them,” Byanyima emphasized.

UNAIDS estimates that 20 million people need access to long-acting injectable PrEP for the world to achieve the new goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. The commitment was made by United Nations member states a few weeks ago.

“This means affordable prices, competition from generic drugs, regional manufacturing, technology transfer, and rapid integration into national programs,” the director noted.

“Science has done its part; now, politics must do its part. The question is no longer whether we can end AIDS, but whether we will choose to end AIDS. If this is fully implemented, we can prevent 3.2 million new infections and 1.3 million AIDS-related deaths.”

The UN program points out that the first step toward this is restoring global investment in HIV treatment and prevention.

Funding for the main assistance program for low-income countries, Official Development Assistance (ODA), fell by 23 percent in 2025, severely affecting HIV programs. Some African countries rely on these funds for more than 90 percent of their efforts to combat HIV.

This affects the availability of new prevention technologies and care for those already infected. In 2025, one in five people living with HIV worldwide was not receiving antiretroviral treatment, a proportion that rises to nearly half among children.

Stigmatization

Another issue highlighted by UNAIDS is the resurgence of discrimination against LGBTI+ people and vulnerable populations, such as sex workers and people who use drugs. For the first time, the criminalization of same-sex relationships increased in 2025 rather than declined, with 66 countries now criminalizing such relationships.

The organization also identified 14 countries that criminalize transgender people, as well as 168 countries where various aspects of sex work are prohibited and 152 where possession of small amounts of drugs is punishable.

“When people fear imprisonment, violence, discrimination, and stigma, they avoid health care services. HIV spreads when rights are denied. Human rights are not separate from the response to HIV - they are the response to HIV,” emphasized the UNAIDS executive director.

The prevalence of the main types of HPV fell by nearly half in Brazil following vaccination, according to the largest study ever conducted in Latin America assessing the vaccine’s efficacy.

Data collected in 2016 and 2017 show that 14.98 percent of participants had already been infected with at least one of the four types covered by the vaccine (6, 11, 16, and 18). In samples collected between 2020 and 2023, however, this proportion stood at 7.95 percent.

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The Pop-Brasil study was conducted by Moinhos de Vento Hospital in partnership with the Ministry of Health. In the first phase, samples from 6,388 unvaccinated participants of both sexes were analyzed. The second phase included more than 10,000 participants, both vaccinated and unvaccinated. Samples were collected at healthcare facilities.

In both phases, the study focused on young people aged 16 to 25 years, according to Eliana Wendland, an epidemiologist and the study’s lead researcher:

“This age group has the highest prevalence of HPV because it coincides with the onset of sexual activity. It was also selected because individuals in this group should already have been vaccinated.”

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Among the girls and women included in the study, only 61.8 percent had been vaccinated, and the proportion was even lower among male participants, at 31.1 percent. The ideal vaccination coverage rate is 90 percent.

Even so, the vaccine demonstrated its potential. Among the girls and women, the prevalence of HPV types covered by the vaccine was 15.6 percent in the first phase, when only unvaccinated individuals participated in the study. In the second phase, however, detection of these HPV types among vaccinated participants dropped to 3.1 percent.

“Herd immunity”

According to Wendland, the study also found evidence that the vaccine has already contributed to a “herd immunity” effect:

“We also observed a population-wide effect of vaccination among the girls. Even among those who were not vaccinated, we observed a decrease in HPV prevalence.”

This occurs because high vaccination coverage reduces the circulation of disease-causing agents, indirectly protecting the entire population. Among unvaccinated girls and women, the prevalence of the four HPV types targeted by the vaccine was 10.5 percent in the second phase of the study.

Among men, the prevalence of the HPV types targeted by the vaccine fell from 13.8 percent to 4.6 percent among vaccinated participants, but there was no statistically significant change among unvaccinated participants in the second phase. According to Wendland, the explanation lies in the low vaccination coverage among this group.

“This finding is not unexpected, since boys tend to receive less encouragement to get vaccinated against HPV than girls, in part because the virus is still widely perceived as primarily a cause of cervical cancer,” notes the preview of the article to be published in the journal npj Vaccines, which presents the study’s results.

Effective vaccination

Another piece of data underscoring the vaccine’s power and importance is that, between the two phases of the study, the overall prevalence of HPV in the population - considering all existing subtypes - rose from 46.7 percent to 56.6 percent, in contrast to what was observed for the four subtypes targeted by the vaccine.

The study also found evidence that the current single-dose regimen offered by Brazil’s national public healthcare system, the SUS, is effective, as there was no difference in HPV prevalence among people vaccinated with one, two, or three doses.

HPV vaccination through the SUS began in 2014, initially targeting only girls, but was expanded to include boys in 2017, with some changes to the eligible age range over the years. In 2024, the basic vaccination schedule changed from two doses to one.

Today, the target population includes all children and adolescents aged 9 to 14 years, as well as certain vulnerable adult groups, such as immunocompromised individuals, victims of sexual violence, users of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HPV prevention, and people with a previous history of precancerous cervical lesions.

HPV, short for human papillomavirus, is the leading cause of cervical cancer, but it can also cause cancers in other organs, such as the penis, anus, and throat. Not all HPV subtypes are carcinogenic, but the vaccine available through Brazil’s public health system protects against the four main oncogenic HPV types.