2026 HIV High-Level Meeting: Stay engaged!
The 2026 United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV represents a critical global moment to assess progress, address gaps, and renew political commitment to ending HIV as a public health threat.
This moment is also critical for the Global Fund, as the Political Declaration will help shape global priorities, financing commitments, and accountability frameworks that directly influence the scale, focus, and effectiveness of Global Fund–supported programs. It also builds on recent momentum, including the outcome of the Global Fund’s 8th Replenishment, which mobilised over $12.6 billion to support the fight against HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.
Convened by the United Nations General Assembly, the HLM will gather Member States to adopt a new Political Declaration to guide the global HIV response in the years ahead.
As much as possible we encourage civil society to become part of the Government delegation to support the process.
Why the 2026 HLM matters
The 2026 HLM comes at a pivotal time. While important gains have been made in expanding access to prevention, treatment, and care, significant challenges remain. 630,000 people died from HIV-related causes globally in 2023 (latest confirmed data) underscoring the urgency of accelerated action. We still see:
- Persistent inequalities in access to services
- Shrinking civic space and increasing restrictions on civil society and community-led responses
- Funding constraints and sustainability concerns coupled with a new focus on integrating HIV services in primary health care
- Ongoing stigma, discrimination, and criminalisation affecting key populations
This HLM provides an opportunity to reaffirm commitments to human rights, equity, and evidence-based approaches, while ensuring that people and communities remain at the centre of the response.
The process
The HLM is preceded by a multi-step preparatory process led by the United Nations:
- Modalities Resolution: Member States negotiate and adopt a resolution that defines the scope, format, and participation modalities of the HLM, including provisions for civil society engagement. The negotiation of the modalities resolution (defines how things operate) is underway and already reveals challenges in maintaining previously agreed language. It is hoped that the modalities resolution will be adopted within April 2026.
- Zero Draft and Negotiations: A ‘zero draft’ of the Political Declaration will be developed and negotiated among Member States. This stage is critical for influencing commitments related to human rights, community leadership, financing, and service delivery. The zero draft is expected to be available for MS negotiations sometime in May.
- The Multi Stakeholder Consultations: A multi stakeholder consultations will take place in mid May 2026 to gather inputs from civil society, communities, and other stakeholders. These inputs play a key role in shaping priorities and informing the zero draft. It is hoped that the MSH will be in hybrid format, given the compressed timeline.
- High-Level Meeting: The HLM is expected to take place on 22–23 June 2026, at UN Headquarters in New York, culminating in the adoption of the Political Declaration.
Role of civil society and communities
Civil society and community-led organisations play a central role throughout the process, advocating for ambitious commitments, safeguarding strong language on human rights and accountability, and ensuring that lived realities inform global policy. To support meaningful, inclusive, and participatory engagement, UNAIDS has established a Multistakeholder Task Force composed of representatives from civil society and the private sector.
The MSTF (to be cochaired by Priscilla Ama Addo, Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Y+Global), Ghana and Erika Castellanos, Global Action for Trans Equality (GATE), Belize/Netherlands) will play a key role in shaping the multi-stakeholder hearing (MSH) and contributing to the broader HLM process. Members of the Task Force will:
- Contribute to the development of the format, theme, and programme of the multi-stakeholder hearing (MSH)
- Support the identification of speakers for the MSH and HLM plenary and panel discussions
- Provide a mechanism for community and civil society input on the zero draft of the Political Declaration, reflecting priorities raised during the MSH
Key priorities
Based on emerging negotiations, the following priorities are critical to ensure an ambitious and rights-based outcome:
- Protecting and reaffirming previous commitments: Ensuring that language from earlier Political Declarations (2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021) is fully reaffirmed rather than diluted, and that existing commitments are not rolled back, while explicitly recognising and preserving the role of established global health institutions, including the Global Fund, as central to delivering on these commitments.
- Safeguarding meaningful civil society and community participation: Protecting inclusive participation mechanisms, including strong provisions for the Multi-Stakeholder Hearing and country and regional consultations, and resisting efforts to limit engagement under procedural constraints, in line with the Global Fund’s model of community and civil society engagement in governance and implementation..
- Reinforcing human rights and equity-based approaches: Ensuring explicit and strong language on human rights, gender equality, and the needs and rights of key and affected populations, and avoiding dilution through vague or generalised terminology.
- Maintaining accountability and transparency mechanisms: Preserving language that enables monitoring of progress, community-led accountability, and inclusive consultation processes led by UNAIDS, and reinforcing complementary accountability frameworks supported by the Global Fund, including country-level oversight and community-led monitoring..
- Securing sustainable and equitable financing: Reaffirming commitments to adequately fund the HIV response, including support for community-led responses and global health initiatives such as the Global Fund, and building on recent financing momentum, including the Global Fund’s 8th Replenishment, which mobilised over $12.6 billion.
- Advancing integrated, people-centred approaches: Promoting effective integration of HIV with broader health systems, including noncommunicable diseases and mental health, without undermining the specificity and gains of the HIV response and leveraging the Global Fund’s investments in resilient and sustainable systems for health.
Key resources
Don’t miss this practical advocacy toolkit developed by the NCD Alliance to support engagement in the 2026 HLM process. Advocating for integrated HIV, noncommunicable disease and mental health responses provides guidance on key political moments, advocacy strategies, and priorities to advance integrated, people-centred, and rights-based approaches.
Stay engaged
This page will be regularly updated with key milestones, draft documents, and opportunities for engagement as the process evolves.
Stakeholders are encouraged to actively participate in consultations, contribute to advocacy efforts, and collaborate to ensure an ambitious, inclusive, and accountable outcome.