Excitement and sense of empowerment characterized this year’s World AIDS Day (WAD) and International AIDS Candlelight Memorial (IACM) joint commemoration in Malawi with five local councils taking lead in the organization of this years’ joint event. The five district councils are Nkhatabay, Northern part of Malawi, Salima and Lilongwe Central part of Malawi, Blantyre and Mangochi, Southern part of Malawi respectively. Previously, National AIDS Commission-NAC coordinated World AIDS Day commemoration as a national level event which was taking place at a centralized venue graced by the Minister of Health and other dignitaries. This year it has been done differently, the national launch events were held simultaneously in four districts of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Salima and Nkhatabay on the 1st of December, followed by Mangochi on 16th December 2025 under the local theme ‘We Remember, We Lead, and We Rise to Transform the Response.” All the events were district -led and graced by district level leadership and dignitaries. Globally this year’s WAD is themed Overcoming Disruption, transforming the AIDS response.
This is the new direction taken by the National AIDS Commission in ensuring that all local stakeholders are empowered to help sustain progress made over the years in the National response. NAC worked with the Malawi Network of People Living with HIV (MANET+) and Malawi Network of AIDS Service Organizations (MANASO) to support districts in coordinating the launch of these events. According to NAC Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Beatrice Matanje, this year’s joint commemoration is emphasizing on improving uptake of HIV services among men. For instance, Blantyre was targeting men in the workplace; Lilongwe was focusing on the informal sector especially public markets; Nkhatabay was targeting Fishermen, Plantations and Kabanza (motorcycle and bicycle) operators; while in Salima target was Uniformed Forces and Key Populations; and Mangochi focused on migrant men. Statistics show that children and men are below the national HIV treatment targets of 95:95:95 whose progress is at 76:77:84 and 94:96:95, respectively.
“We therefore encourage all men to go for an HIV test so that they are aware of their status; those who have been diagnosed with HIV should immediately enrol on Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) and be encouraged to adhere to treatment as this is the only way to achieve viral load suppression. Those who test HIV negative but are identified to be at a high risk of contracting HIV should be encouraged to initiate Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), which is given to prevent HIV acquisition”, stated Dr. Matanje.
Unlike previous years, this year’s commemoration comes at a time when there are a lot of uncertainties surrounding HIV funding. Dr. Matanje indicated that it cannot be business as usual, attesting to the fact that Malawi’s HIV response stands at a crossroads and called for concerted efforts to sustain the gains made in the National HIV response. “We cannot afford to lose the gains. Malawi has been recognized internationally for delivering effective and efficient interventions, and I am confident that through our collective efforts, we are going to safeguard and sustain the gains. This is the reason we coined this year ‘s joint World AIDS Day and International AIDS Candlelight Memorial commemoration theme ‘‘We Remember, We Lead, We Rise to Transform the Response’ We are all called to duty to sustain the gains”, said Dr. Matanje
“The AIDS response is severely disrupted, when it is supposed to be strong to finish the unfinished business of HIV. At this time the efforts of UNAIDS secretariat and co-sponsors should support countries in responding to the disruptions and in securing the future of the AIDS response”, said Dr. Chipanta.
In the sidelines of the WAD commemoration, a Breakfast Roundtable Discussion on UN-Joint programme Support on HIV Response in Malawi was held on 1 December 2025. The event was held at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe and was attended by UN agencies, country ambassadors, diplomats, government officials and Civil Society organizations. They enormously pledged their support to sustain gains made in National HIV Response.
The primary objectives of the joint WAD and IACM commemoration are to bolster HIV awareness, foster unity in the response to HIV and AIDS, express solidarity with individuals living with HIV, honor those who have dedicated their lives to helping people living with or affected by HIV and those who succumbed to AIDS-related illnesses. Meanwhile, Malawi has achieved the 95:95:95 treatment targets ahead of time which is in line with the global goal of ‘Ending AIDS as a public health threat by the year 2030.
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