And barriers to community leadership need to be removed. There must be an enabling regulatory and legal environment that allows communities the space to operate and protects human rights for all, including young people, gay men and other men who have sex with men, transgender people, people who use drugs, and sex workers.

A new HIV Law was enacted in 2018 (RA 11166) to fill the gaps and update the previous AIDS Prevention Act of 1998 (RA 8504) to be more responsive to the current state of the country's HIV epidemic. One of the significant updates in the new law is the greater role given to community-led organizations in providing HIV services, including prevention, testing, treatment, and support.

The law encourages government agencies and local government units to coordinate with and fund community organizations to continue and expand the provision of services. However, current guidelines from regulatory agencies on channeling funding support to non-government partners are not accommodating the realities of community organizations and thus preventing them from accessing much-needed support to continue and scale up their work.

It has been a long-standing principle of the AIDS response to bring people living with and affected by HIV to the decision-making table. Nothing About Us Without Us! Where this is being followed, progress is being made. Supporting communities in their leadership is not only the right thing to do but also essential for advancing public health.

AIDS is far from over. Last year, worldwide- 630,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses, 1.3 million people were newly infected with HIV, and 9.2 million people did not have access to lifesaving HIV treatment. 

There are now an estimated 164,400 people living with HIV in the country, and 24,400 new infections are estimated to be added in 2022 alone.  The Philippines has fallen short of the 95-95-95 targets. It has only diagnosed 63 percent of its diagnosis target, only 62 percent of its enrollment to treatment target, and only 25 percent of the viral load suppression target. Of the estimated number of people infected with HIV, there are still 115,873 who remain to be diagnosed and enrolled in life-saving treatment.

We have the tools to prevent new HIV infections and ensure that all people living with HIV access treatment. It is estimated that the country can prevent 162,000 new infections and more than 8,000 AIDS-related deaths if the country ramps up interventions provided by community-led organizations. The goal of making communities participate in 30 percent of testing services, 80% of prevention services, and 60 percent of societal enablers will make this goal achievable. 

The end of AIDS is within reach. We even know how to get there: Let communities lead!

(Dr. Louie Ocampo is the country director of UNAIDS Philippines.)