Namibia on Monday joined the world in observing World AIDS Day under the national theme ‘Sustaining the HIV Response, Ending Stigma and Building Resilient Communities’.
Globally, the theme is ‘Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response’.
Both themes acknowledge that HIV is not only a medical issue, but a social, economic and human story that continues to evolve.
They speak to the urgency of preserving past achievements, safeguarding existing gains and ensuring that no one is left behind.
They also highlight the need to continue ending stigma, expanding treatment and strengthening communities.
But as we reflect on the journey of more than four decades, one question grows louder: With the level of scientific advancement we have in 2025, shouldn’t the global mission be shifting beyond prevention and control, and towards a cure?
The world has invested decades into prevention campaigns, community support and lifesaving antiretroviral treatment.
These strategies have changed lives, prolonged lives and given hope to millions.
Namibia stands among the countries that have demonstrated exceptional progress in viral suppression and treatment coverage.
These milestones deserve recognition and celebration. Yet, prevention and management should not be the ceiling of our ambition.
Prevention is vital, but it is built on the assumption that HIV will always be with us.
We have framed progress for years in terms of controlling the virus, reducing transmission and improving treatment.
Scientific breakthroughs across the world show that it is time to ask a much bigger question: Why isn’t the same global urgency, funding and innovation that once transformed HIV treatment now being mobilised towards a cure?
The global health sector has shown what is possible when the world aligns around a solution. Cancer has immunotherapies. Covid-19 had vaccines in under a year.
Technologies like mRNA, monoclonal antibodies and gene editing are rewriting medical science in unprecedented ways.
The barriers that once made a cure for HIV impossible are not the same today.
If the global health community is serious about “transforming the AIDS response”, then the transformation cannot only mean improving treatment systems or expanding prevention programmes.
It must also mean shifting resources, funding and attention toward cure-based research, eradication science and breakthrough innovation.
The national theme reminds us of how far Namibia has come as a country.
Community leadership has been the backbone of success. Systems have become more resilient and stigma has reduced significantly.
These achievements place us in a stronger position as a nation to continue the fight against HIV and to protect future generations.
But the world has reached a stage where the next breakthrough cannot be limited to prevention messaging and treatment scaling alone.
The next phase must include a global commitment to cure-driven science and genuine eradication strategies.
Prevention, stigma reduction and community resilience remain essential.
They continue to save lives every day and remain a crucial pillar of the AIDS response.
But the fight against HIV cannot end with the hope that fewer people will contract it.
The fight ends when no human being has to live with it at all.
We have the technology, the scientific capability and the global health capacity to begin shifting towards that horizon.
The global movement must now be towards a cure, one that future generations can look back on not as an impossible dream, but as the natural next chapter of scientific progress.
The time has come for a global push, not only to prevent new infections, but to finally cure HIV-AIDS.
– Timo Neisho
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