To prevent AIDS from regaining ground, Sidaction is stepping up its efforts in the fight against HIV, " caught in a vice "between budget cuts and increasing attacks on the rights of homosexuals, transgender people or women.
“ Since 2025 and the cessation of aid from the United States under Donald Trump, the fight against HIV has been caught in a vice. On one side, multiple funding cuts, including from France. On the other, a rise in reactionary movements that attack the rights of women, LGBT+ people, and migrants." , described to AFP Florence Thune, director general of Sidaction.
Less prevention, less screening, less access to care: this is the risk of…A disaster foretold: a resurgence of the AIDS epidemic" she warns on the occasion of the 32nd edition, from March 27 to 29, of the charity event organized by the association and supported by some thirty television and radio stations.
It is now possible to live with HIV while on treatment, but there is still no cure for AIDS with complete elimination of the virus. Donations to Sidaction, which can be made by phone (110), text message (92110), or online, fund research, care, and support programs for people living with HIV, both in France and abroad, including in Africa. The 2025 campaign raised €3.9 million in pledges, slightly more than the previous year.
In a " violent budgetary context"The association points out that it has maintained, or even slightly increased, its support for those involved in the fight against HIV over the past three years. In 2025, it made an emergency fund available to those most affected by US budget cuts."
“ Our fight is for love. This thread is tenuous, but it will not break.", proclaims the association chaired by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, co-discoverer of the AIDS virus in the early 1980s and 2008 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, who insists on the vital support "Donors. While antiretroviral treatments and innovative prevention tools like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) have led to major progress, nearly 41 million people worldwide are still living with HIV, about a quarter of them without treatment. And nearly 600,000 die each year from AIDS-related causes."
Read alsoAIDS: A long-awaited treatment arrives in France
Combating misconceptions
In France, some 180,000 people are living with HIV, and the number of new HIV diagnoses has plateaued at around 5,000, with approximately one-third of these diagnoses occurring in women. Other concerns include a surge in HIV diagnoses among 15- to 24-year-olds over the past decade, decreased condom use among young people, insufficient access to PrEP, and increased risks of transmission through chemsex.
“ While there has been some therapeutic progress, it is still essential to promote information, screening, and access to care on the ground. However, the decrease in public funding in France is weakening many associations supported by Sidaction: they are having to stop projects and lay off staff.", laments Florence Thune.
Another obstacle: misunderstandings and misconceptions about HIV persist, sometimes fueled by masculinist content on social media. Three out of four young people, for example, believe that the virus can be transmitted during unprotected sex with an HIV-positive person on treatment, according to an Opinionway survey for the association – conducted online from February 4 to 22 with a representative sample of 1,516 people aged 15 to 24.
“ We need to hammer home prevention messages and combat HIV-related stigma.", the manager points out, regretting that Despite the passing decades, contamination is still felt as a stigma." . Faced with " a virus that has been defying us for over forty years"Sidaction is also appealing for generosity to support scientists, who have also been hit by the drop in funding.
While they are still searching for a vaccine, scientists are working to enable sustained remission in those carrying the virus or to reduce the burden of treatment. Less restrictive than PrEP tablets and much anticipated, a long-acting injectable treatment has recently become available in France.
English 
French