The international theme of the 2025 World AIDS Day was, “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response.”
The virus that disrupted and devastated communities and families in the 1980s and ’90s is now facing a crossroads, according to the World Health Organization.
“Life-saving services are being disrupted, and many communities face heightened risks and vulnerabilities,” the WHO website states. “Yet amid these challenges, hope endures in the determination, resilience and innovation of communities that strive to end AIDS.”
Each year on Dec. 1 the health organization joins partners and communities around the world to commemorate World AIDS Day, this year “calling for sustained political leadership, international cooperation and human-rights-centred approaches to end AIDS by 2030.”
Key West is home to the nation’s first public memorial to those who died from the virus. The Key West AIDS Memorial is located at the foot of White Street and is funded by the local nonprofit group Friends of the Key West AIDS Memorial. Each year on Dec. 1, residents and visitors march from city hall to the memorial while reading aloud the more than 1,200 names of Key West people who lost their battle with AIDS.
