AIDS-Free World grew out of our intense frustration with the fact that HIV—a weak little virus—was able to take hold and decimate countries and communities. It preyed on the very people who were already living at the margins of their societies: women (and girls), men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, transgender people, persons with disabilities, and on and on.

After decades working within the UN system, co-directors Paula Donovan and Stephen Lewis formed an advocacy organization in 2007 to highlight the underlying inequalities that have allowed HIV to become a global plague.

AIDS-Free World is built on the understanding that even if they were to find a cure for AIDS tomorrow, discrimination would continue to provide the fertile ground for the next epidemic to come along.