Each year on March 10, US organizations and groups come together for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (#NWGHAAD) to show support for women across the gender spectrum living with HIV or with reasons for prevention. But unlike most years, in 2026, the US government has disavowed this awareness day and with it, any commitment to affirm the issues that matter to women and girls. In the vacuum they have left, The Well Project and Positive Women's Network – USA (PWN-USA) – two national organizations focused on HIV and cis and trans women and gender diverse people – have stepped in to lead efforts to honor and uplift this day.
"Liberation has always been the vision for women and girls living with HIV." - Marnina Miller, co-executive director, PWN-USA
We recognize that NWGHAAD is often when those who are otherwise silent on our concerns feature our voices for a day; and we harness that focus to lift up the issues that matter to us. But at The Well Project and PWN-USA, we don't wait. We live this mandate daily at the intersections of gender, racial, reproductive, immigration, and other justice movements.
"Liberation has always been the vision for women and girls living with HIV," said Marnina Miller, co-executive director of PWN-USA. "For too long, we have been told to focus solely on survival and access to treatment. They are important, but they are not enough. Our community deserves to lead full lives where our leadership, families, and futures are valued."
As recognized leaders, it is fitting that The Well Project and PWN-USA team up to remind the world that we don't need permission to be acknowledged. "Joining forces with PWN-USA to lead efforts for NWGHAAD perfectly embodies The Well Project's values: women-led response, centering those most impacted by HIV, community at the heart, evidence-based and always learning…and collective power," added The Well Project's executive director, Krista Martel.
While women living with HIV have been trailblazers since the earliest days of the epidemic, we are often underrecognized even within the wider HIV community. For example, women living with HIV across the gender spectrum have played a significant role in the resistance efforts against life-threatening Florida ADAP (AIDS Drug Assistance Program) funding restrictions, which could cause more than 16,000 Floridians living with HIV to lose access to life-saving medication; yet cisgender white men are the ones whose leadership is lifted up, and issues most relevant to women have largely been ignored. In another devastating instance, trans communities continue to be attacked, dehumanized, and denied rights and documents, in what amounts to stages of genocide.
"When the powers that be aim to silence, erase, and harm us, we stand together and grow louder, together, as sisters in this fight." - Krista Martel, executive director, The Well Project
"Though the federal government is not recognizing NWGHAAD, our communities are stepping forward. We are building power and will continue to highlight, celebrate, and mourn the realities of our lives together," Miller concluded. "Women and girls living with HIV remain at the center of this movement."
Women standing in our power and having our work and our very lives devalued and disregarded is part of the structural violence that fuels patriarchal systems. When we make common cause across differences, and refuse to allow harm against others in our intersecting communities to go unspoken, we threaten the foundation of those systems.
According to Martel: "When the powers that be aim to silence, erase, and harm us, we stand together and grow louder, together, as sisters in this fight."
On this NWGHAAD, consider these calls to action:
- Partners and allies: uplift our NWGHAAD messaging through social media and your networks
- Connect with PWN-USA to stay updated on crucial policy and advocacy work, like what's happening with the cuts to the Florida ADAP
- Engage with The Well Project and get the latest live discussions and educational materials
- Follow savehivfunding.org for a wide range of actions to push back against federal funding cuts
- Seek out and invest in leadership of women and trans and gender diverse people living with HIV – especially Black people
- Speak up in your families, organizations, and networks against attacks on the humanity of trans people
- Find your people and build with them. Work together. Enjoy one another. Nourish, learn from, and challenge each other. Find ways to have each other's backs. We need each other, and we keep us safe.
"This NWGHAAD and every day moving forward," said Martel, "The Well Project is honored to show up in solidarity with our community to ensure women across the gender spectrum are prioritized in the HIV response."
