For decades, conversations around HIV in India have carried a heavy weight of stigma. Within queer and trans communities, this stigma deepens, making access to information, testing, and timely preventive care even more difficult.

Despite progress in public health, HIV continues to remain entangled with judgment, misinformation, and silence.

India’s HIV strategy under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) is aligned with the UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals, global targets designed to help end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

So what does 95-95-95 actually mean?

95% of people living with HIV should know their status.

95% of those who know their status should be on treatment (ART).

95% of those on treatment should have an undetectable viral load.

When these three milestones are met, HIV transmission drops dramatically — because people with suppressed viral loads cannot pass on the virus sexually. In simple terms: the more people who know, treat, and suppress HIV, the closer we get to ending the epidemic.

Over the years, the country has indeed built strong testing and treatment systems. Free ART (antiretroviral therapy) across government centres is accessible and widely recognised. But the missing piece in this landscape has been just as important: HIV prevention.

While science has evolved rapidly, India’s prevention tools haven’t reached people with the ease, dignity, or urgency they deserve.

Medically, India has had access to two highly effective prevention tools for years:

First introduced in 2004, this was made for emergency use. This time-sensitive medication must be started within 2–72 hours of potential exposure and should be taken for 28 days, to prevent the virus from multiplying.

Introduced in India nearly a decade ago, in 2015-16, it has transformed HIV prevention globally, especially among queer communities. It is a daily or planned medication regime that reduces HIV risk before exposure. But in India, both remain incredibly hard to access.

PEP is still largely offered only in cases of occupational exposure or........

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