While many of their peers were winding down for the weekend, a group of high school students from across the region gathered with a weighty purpose: to confront the past, present, and future of the global AIDS epidemic. Hackensack Meridian Health’s AIDS Outreach Program hosted its annual Youth World AIDS Day conference, an event that has, for over two decades, provided a vital platform for education and dialogue. This year, however, the conversation carried a particular urgency.
The conference, held at The Clinton Inn Hotel in Teaneck, brought students face-to-face with physicians, nurses, and pharmacists from Hackensack University Medical Center. The timing was critical, as the event unfolded against a backdrop of a recent global rise in AIDS cases and significant disruptions to international funding for prevention and treatment.
Joseph Underwood, MD, MHCDS, FACEP, Chief Medical Officer of Hackensack University Medical Center, stood before the students, his expression a mixture of pride and gravity.
“It’s truly inspiring to stand before you today — the leaders, the innovators, the future of the fight against AIDS,” he began. “We gather here at a pivotal, and frankly, precarious moment,” Dr. Underwood said.
He painted a stark picture of the current global situation, citing the latest 2025 data from UNAIDS. Globally, 40.8 million people were living with HIV in 2024. While collective efforts have led to a 54% reduction in AIDS-related deaths since 2010, a staggering 630,000 people still died from AIDS-related illnesses last year. Furthermore, 1.3 million people were newly infected with HIV, a number that underscores the sobering reality that the fight is far from over.
Adding to this challenge is a severe disruption in longstanding international funding for HIV prevention and treatment services. This has led to the suspension of vital health services and community-led organizations in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.
To give the students context, Dr. Underwood transported them back to the 1980s, the dawn of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. He described an era shrouded in fear, misinformation, and stigma, when the disease was poorly understood, and a diagnosis was a death sentence. He highlighted the crucial role of grassroots activism, with groups like ACT UP demanding research and recognition, ultimately shifting public perception and driving policy change.
The development of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the 90s and early 2000s marked a turning point, transforming HIV from a fatal disease to a manageable chronic illness. Today, individuals with access to ART can live near-normal lifespans. Dr. Underwood pointed to the remarkable success of seven countries — Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe — that have achieved the ambitious 95-95-95 targets, meaning 95% of people with HIV know their status, 95% of them are on treatment, and 95% of those on treatment have a suppressed viral load.
But with approximately 1.1 million people in the U.S. living with HIV, and young people aged 13 to 24 accounting for a significant percentage of new diagnoses, the need for education remains as critical as ever.
“This is a call to action,” Dr. Underwood implored the young audience. “Our mission is not just about ending AIDS — it’s about saving the progress we have made and building a future where this disease has no power.”
He then laid out a clear challenge to the students, outlining what they, as the next generation of leaders, can do:
- “Knowledge is power,” he stressed, urging them to understand the facts about HIV/AIDS and to challenge the stigma and misinformation that still persist.
- He encouraged them to use their powerful voices to advocate for policies that support prevention, education, and research.
- In the face of the current funding crisis, he urged them to be “louder than ever” by organizing awareness events and supporting organizations working on the front lines.
- And he recognized them as the generation of technology and creativity, calling on them to develop new solutions for prevention, testing, and treatment.
“The fight against AIDS is a marathon, not a sprint,” Dr. Underwood concluded. “Never underestimate the power of your actions, no matter how small they may seem. The future is in your hands. Let’s make it a future free from AIDS.”
As the conference drew to a close, the students left not with a sense of despair, but with a renewed sense of purpose, empowered with the knowledge and the charge to carry the torch forward in the ongoing battle against HIV/AIDS.