World AIDS Day and Indigenous AIDS Awareness Day message 2023

“Let communities lead” is the 2023 World AIDS Day theme and on December 1^st, which is also the start of Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week, we will have the opportunity to both reflect and create change. It’s a poignant day to remember all those important people who we have lost and to reflect on the valuable contributions they made along their journeys. It’s also a day to think about action, to talk about the important work that still needs to be done in our communities.

Let communities lead speaks directly to the impactful work being done by our frontline member organizations around the province and their perseverance despite the challenges and barriers that they encounter along the way. The theme also speaks to the importance – the necessity – of the leadership voices of people living with HIV, the tenets of nothing about us without us, in the provision of comprehensive programs, and community building.

Community and community-based organizations (CBOs) are the bedrock of HIV prevention and treatment services in BC and have been since the start of the epidemic. CBOs have proven time and time again to be leaders in this work driving change and innovation, and they shouldn’t be hindered in those efforts; they should be supported and heralded for those efforts. Sufficient, consistent funding that ensures the continuity of community services is essential to keep organizations strong to continue meeting the needs of the people they serve.

We acknowledge and celebrate the lives of people living with HIV today and we express our gratitude to our 42 member groups for their continued leadership, commitment and perseverance. Let communities lead.