The urgent truth about women and HIV

HIV doesn’t impact everyone equally. Around the world, women and girls shoulder a disproportionate burden of illness, stigma and loss. Too often, they are overlooked in funding decisions, sidelined in policy debates and underserved by health systems.

But women are not just statistics. They are founders, caregivers, advocates and experts.

They are building the solutions that work. For their communities, for their families and for the future.

The Elton John AIDS Foundation is the fifth largest philanthropic funder of HIV programming globally for women and girls. We fund organizations and programs that go where the need is greatest, ensuring women and girls can access the care, treatment, and prevention they deserve.

The scale of this crisis is staggering, and the inequity within it is impossible to ignore. But these numbers are not inevitable. They are the result of systems that have consistently failed to prioritise women and girls.

Last year, because of the widespread cuts by international donors more than 60% of women-led HIV organizations lost funding or were forced to suspend services. And over 2 million adolescent girls and young women have been deprived of essential health services.

This isn't just a public health failure. It's an injustice.

“Women and girls are not inherently more vulnerable to HIV; inequality puts them at risk. Gender-based violence, barriers to education and healthcare, poverty and stigma all drive that vulnerability,” says Anne Aslett, CEO of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Behind every statistic is a woman who refused to be defined by it. With the right support, women are not just surviving this epidemic, they are leading the response.

Funded and supported by the Foundation, they are turning lived experience into lasting change.

Three years. That's how long doctors told Elena she had to live in 1996. She decided that wasn't her story and spent the next three decades proving it.

As Founder of Revanche in Kazakhstan, a grantee of our RADIAN partnership with Gilead Sciences, Elena is challenging stigma and improving access to services so women who use drugs are not pushed to the margins of care.

Her drive to help these people comes from both her personal experience and her belief in the dignity and humanity of all.

"Drug users sometimes just need to be given a hand. Like in my case; if I had not once been offered support, I would have rotted in the ground long ago and would not have given birth to three more children. It’s imperative that we provide support rather than judgment and exclusion."

Many of the people Revanche supports go on to become volunteers themselves, each one reaching further into communities that the systems and policies have long failed.

For Jessica, support changed everything.

When she was diagnosed with HIV around 2015, her world changed overnight. “It was definitely scary because I didn’t know anything about it,” she said. “I wasn’t taught about HIV or AIDS, or what steps I needed to take from there.”

Shortly after her diagnosis, a hospital nurse shared a soda with her, a small gesture that quietly dismantled her fear and reassured here that HIV cannot be passed on by sharing a drink.

Jessica is a resident at Newly Empowered Women (NEW), a transitional housing program in San Antonio, Texas, run by BEAT AIDS that supports women living with HIV. Through our partnership with the University of Houston, BEAT AIDS has received trauma-informed training to equip their team to meet every woman who walks through their doors not just with support, but with genuine understanding of the trauma she might be carrying.

For Jessica, NEW is more than a program. It’s a home.

She is thriving. She is planning her future. She hopes to become a case manager to support other women navigating HIV, addiction, mental health and re-entry after prison.

Jessica’s story is proof of what happens when we invest in women-centered care. When we choose support over judgment.

On the frontlines of HIV care in Lagos, Dr. Idowu witnesses the realities marginalized communities face every day.

A dedicated medical professional with over 12 years of service at an antiretroviral clinic where she began as a volunteer and stayed because the need was too urgent to walk away from.

Thanks to support from our partner, Population Council, they have meaningfully strengthened service delivery and expanded the clinic's capacity to reach those who need it most.

As the clinic's focal person for adolescents and marginalised groups, Dr. Idowu knows that access to care isn't just about treatment. It's about trust. It's about creating a space where people can walk through the door without fear. Where they are met with dignity rather than shame.

Health workers like Dr. Idowu are not just treating HIV. They are dismantling the barriers that stop people from seeking help in the first place.

They are, quietly and profoundly, saving lives.

Elena. Jessica. Dr. Idowu. Three women. Three continents. One shared truth: when women are resourced, trusted, and supported, they change everything.

The statistics demand action.

The funding crisis demands urgency.

The next generation is watching. And they are counting on us.

Ending HIV requires more than treatment. It requires equity. It requires the courage to fund what works, to trust the people closest to the crisis, and to refuse to look away.

That's why we fund programs that reach the women and girls being left behind, from the United States to Kazakhstan, from Nigeria to the United Kingdom.

Your donation accelerates access to treatment, prevention, and care built around their lives.