By Cedric Nininahazwe
The United Nations General Assembly convened the World Social Summit 2025-officially the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, where world leaders renewed their commitments to accelerate the progress toward the global 2030 agenda. The Doha political declaration collated up the HIV response under the umbrella of “pandemics and other health emergencies.
This was a stark shift from the inaugural summit 30 years ago in Denmark when the world made the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration explicitly calling out the HIV/AIDS pandemic and demanded specific commitments for care and support services and the elimination of discrimination against People Living with HIV (PLHIV).
When the heads of State and Government, met in Qatar from 4–6 November 2025, to reaffirm commitments to the Copenhagen Declaration and accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda, they referenced health under the umbrella of “pandemics and other health emergencies and committed to strengthening resilient, inclusive, sustainable health systems and ensuring equitable access to medicines and diagnostics.
The summit was a crucial moment for the HIV response and particularly PLHIV as this shift will inform policy to build on the legacy of the original summit. With participation from 186 countries and over 14,000 delegates, leaders pledged to prioritize poverty eradication, full employment, and social integration as central pillars of development.
The shift in language from the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration to the 2025 Doha Political Declaration reflects a transition from a targeted crisis-response model to an integrated health systems approach regarding people living with HIV (PLHIV).
It presents the HIV response with the risk of fading into the background of global priorities, or an opportunity to evolve and offer the world a working model that will deliver on our goal to end AIDS by 2030;offering evidence, experience that actively engages governments accountability for the promises made in the Copenhagen Declarations.
This evolution requires a dual-focus strategy from governments and people living with HIV (PLHIV) to ensure sustained progress and bridge the gaps. Governments must guarantee Universal Health Coverage (UHC) with HIV specific needs at its core.
The shift in language from the Copenhagen to the Doha Political Declaration is a wake-up call. As PLHIV begin our advocacy to engage with decision-makers ahead of the 2026 UN High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, demand a new Political Declaration with clear, ambitious, and fully actionable commitments that centre the urgent realities and rights of people living with HIV.
Until the world finds HIV cure, Governments must;
Commit to sustaining the HIV response, through strengthening health systems adapting UHC for HIV to secure includes adequate, funding for HIV treatment and care services for all PLHIV towards HIV epidemic control. When PLHIV are on treatment and virally suppressed quality of life is improved, deaths averted and HIV incidence reduced.
Uphold commitments to address HIV stigma and discrimination by actively enforcing the human rights commitments from the Copenhagen Declaration to combat stigma and discrimination against PLHIV in healthcare, employment, and social settings, which is essential for achieving social integration.
As for PLHIV and the entire HIV response community, our responsibility lies in ensuring our voice speak evidence, experience and accountability. We must actively engage to hold governments accountable for the promises made.
We must ensure that national health plans and UHC strategies explicitly mention and budget for the unique and lifelong needs of PLHIV, preventing these issues from being lost in generalized health response. Moreover, we must consistently seek to actively participate in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of integrated health services to ensure they are people-centred, accessible, and adhere to PLHIV minimum standards of quality and non-discrimination.
