SHAAD is a day to envision and fight for a future free of HIV in the South. While innovation in science, treatment, and prevention continues to advance, as seen with this year’s FDA approval of a long-acting injectable for HIV prevention and advances in research exploring CRISPR technology and IAP inhibitors to target and eliminate the virus . Despite these advances, the South still lags behind due to structural barriers like stigma, underfunding, and limited healthcare infrastructure. SHAAD calls on Southern advocates, communities, and leaders to demand again that the South not be left behind. A future without HIV requires bold investment, community power, and long-term commitment to justice. As we envision a future without HIV, we must S.T.E.P. in Solidarity with those most impacted while fighting back against the forces that keep the South behind.

SHAAD is a day to demand sustainable and equitable funding for HIV care and prevention across the South. The region continues to bear the highest burden of HIV in the U.S., yet often receives inadequate investment.

Now, the South faces renewed and deepening public health losses. In the past decade, this region has seen more rural hospital closures than any other, and it continues to have the highest rate of uninsured people in the country. Cuts to Medicaid and HIV programs only worsen this fragile landscape.

SHAAD raises the alarm: Southern communities cannot do more with less. Lives are at stake. We must protect and expand resources, rather than rolling them back. This SHAAD, we stand together in solidarity. To raise awareness, to organize, fund, and fight back. S.T.E.P in solidarity means demanding systems that invest in people, not politics.

Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a day of remembrance, while at the same time also a call to action. This year, SHAAD closes out Our Freedom Summer by honoring the legacy of those who fought for civil rights, dignity, and justice in generations past. We recognize that ending the HIV epidemic in the South requires more than awareness; at the same time, it demands resistance, reinvestment, and radical solidarity. S.T.E.P. in Solidarity (Southern Trailblazers Empowering Progress) means standing with those most impacted by structural racism, anti-LGBTQ+ policies, rural hospital closures, and the attempted dismantling of Medicaid. It means connecting our past to the present to fight for a just future. This SHAAD, we commit to advancing health justice as a goal and as a promise we must keep.

We stand at a critical juncture for Southern communities. Where fearmongering, public health cuts, and political attacks converge to threaten our collective progress. But we’ve been here before, and we’ve always marched forward. This SHAAD, we honor the legacy of Southern trailblazers who fought for justice and freedom, and we call on all communities to S.T.E.P. forward in solidarity. Whether through voting, organizing, advocating, or walking, now is the time to rise together. Boldly, unapologetically, and without leaving anyone behind. Our path to a future without HIV requires us to empower progress. And we must walk it, together.

SHAAD is a day to affirm that health is a human right. True health justice in the South means that race, income, gender identity, sexual orientation, or immigration status should never determine whether someone receives care.
Today, systemic barriers continue to deny Southern communities the full dignity of health equity. Yet despite this reality, this year, Maryland repealed its outdated HIV criminalization law, proving that progress is within reach when advocates mobilize and demand justice.
SHAAD reminds us that victories like these must ripple across the region. Our communities deserve systems that protect all of us, systems that are responsive to the needs of their communities, not ones that leave them behind.
Let SHAAD 2025 be a catalyst for continued progress. When we S.T.E.P in Solidarity, we commit to a vision where every Southern community has access to justice-driven, community-informed, and person-centered care.