This past weekend we joined the global community to observe World AIDS Day 2024. This year’s theme, “Take the Rights Path: My Health, My Right,” underscores the urgent need to address the inequalities that continue to fuel the HIV/AIDS epidemic and calls for the protection of health as a fundamental human right.

As an infectious disease physician in New York, I have witnessed firsthand how HIV/AIDS impacts lives, not just medically but socially and economically. While remarkable progress has been made—ensuring that millions worldwide now live long, healthy lives with access to antiretroviral therapy—there is still much work to be done.

The global goal to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 is within reach if we adopt a rights-based approach. It begins with health equity—ensuring that........

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