“Leveling up self-love” might sound like a personal mantra, but in 2025, it’s also a national call to action. The theme for National HIV Testing Day 2025, Level up your self-love: check your status, invites individuals to treat health as an expression of self-respect — starting with knowing their HIV status.
Observed each year on June 27, National HIV Testing Day marks a sustained effort to raise awareness about HIV testing and its role in prevention and care. First launched in 1995, the observance is led by the CDC in partnership with national and community-based organizations. Its goal remains the same, nearly 30 years later: to encourage individuals to know their HIV status and connect them to the care or prevention tools they need.
Knowing your HIV status — whether positive or negative — opens the door to the tools and treatments that support both individual and public health.
Current Statistics on HIV
Globally, an estimated 39.9 million people were living with HIV in 2023, and more than 1.3 million became newly infected. That same year, 630,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses — equivalent to one person every minute.
Despite decades of progress, HIV remains a serious public health concern in the US, with more than 100 people diagnosed every day in 2023. Testing is the first step in interrupting transmission. Individuals who test negative can access prevention tools like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), while those who test positive can start antiretroviral therapy (ART) to reduce their viral load and prevent onward transmission.
Yet uptake of prevention remains uneven. In 2022, only 36% of people in the US who met CDC criteria for PrEP received a prescription. The numbers are lower still among certain high-risk groups, including women, Black and Hispanic populations and individuals in the southern US, where structural barriers and stigma continue to limit access.
Related: World AIDS Vaccine Day 2025: Innovations Face Real-World Challenges
Progress in Prevention: A New PrEP Option
With disparities in HIV prevention still widespread, the arrival of Yeztugo (lenacapavir) in 2025 adds a new option at a time when innovation is urgently needed. Approved by the FDA as the first twice-yearly injectable PrEP, lenacapavir is designed to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV in adults and adolescents weighing at least 35 kilograms.
Data from the Phase III PURPOSE trials showed that over 99.9% of participants receiving lenacapavir remained HIV-negative. The drug performed well in both cisgender women and gender-diverse populations, with demonstrated superiority over daily oral PrEP. Its long-acting profile may help address common challenges with adherence, particularly for individuals who face housing insecurity or stigma around daily medication.
Still, access may remain a challenge. With a US list price of more than $28,000 per year, global health leaders raised concerns about affordability and equitable distribution. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation joined UNAIDS in urging Gilead to lower the cost, warning that high pricing could blunt the drug’s impact on the broader epidemic.
Community Initiatives and Testing Access
Across the country, local programs are finding new ways to close the gap between prevention and those who need it. In Monroe County, Michigan, the health department partnered with pharmacies to offer free, confidential HIV testing during National HIV Testing Day 2025. Services also include PrEP access, free condom distribution and quick test results — all in locations that aim to reduce stigma and improve access.
In Philadelphia, Prevention Point, a harm reduction nonprofit serving people who use drugs, has played a central role in reducing HIV linked to injection drug use. In the 1990s, nearly half of new HIV diagnoses in the city were associated with drug use; by 2023, that number had dropped to 5.8%. The organization now offers both oral and injectable PrEP, focusing on individuals who face housing instability or struggle with daily pill adherence.
We can’t talk about self-love in HIV prevention without mentioning MISTR, a digital platform that has reimagined access for LGBTQ+ communities nationwide. After one year of offering bundled PrEP and DoxyPEP (a post-exposure STI prevention tool), MISTR reported a more than 50% reduction in STI positivity rates among its users. More than 74% of patients now request the bundled option, with especially strong uptake among Black and Latino patients and those living in the US South — groups that often face the steepest access barriers.
Offering free delivery, at-home testing and long-term HIV care, MISTR’s model shows what’s possible when care is culturally affirming, tech-enabled and stigma-free.
CAN Community Health is also working to streamline access with its same-day injectable PrEP model, allowing eligible patients to begin long-acting prevention medication on the day of their initial consultation. The model offers a patient-centered solution aimed at increasing adherence and reducing new infections.
The Importance of Knowing Your Status
The CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine care. Testing helps individuals access prevention tools like PrEP or begin treatment to reach an undetectable viral load, which prevents sexual transmission.
When testing is routine, equitable and accessible, it can transform lives — connecting people to care, protecting their partners and strengthening communities. And yet, more than 5 million people worldwide still don’t know they have HIV.
However, research into long-term HIV control is continuing to push boundaries.
In June 2025, PharmaJet and Immuno Cure announced a US clinical trial for a needle-free, DNA-based therapeutic vaccine, ICVAX. Delivered intradermally using the Tropis system, the vaccine aims to train the immune system to control HIV without daily medication — a potential step toward a functional cure. The study builds on promising Phase I safety and immune response results.
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