AIDSWatch 2026 to Honor Congressional Champions and Bring Hundreds of HIV Advocates to Washington to Defend Progress, Demand Justice
Conference and Congressional Reception to spotlight HIV policy leaders, urgent threats to care and prevention, and the voices of people living with HIV
WASHINGTON — AIDS United today announced the honorees for AIDSWatch 2026 and invited journalists to attend and cover the nation’s largest constituent-driven federal HIV advocacy event, taking place March 16–18, 2026, at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel and on Capitol Hill. This year’s AIDSWatch theme, “Defending Progress, Demanding Justice,” reflects the urgency of this moment as HIV advocates confront mounting political, budgetary, and structural threats to prevention, treatment, care, housing, research, and civil rights.
At a time when hard-won progress is under renewed attack, AIDSWatch 2026 will bring together advocates, people living with HIV, policy experts, and allies from across the country to push Congress to protect lifesaving programs and advance an HIV response rooted in dignity, equity, and justice. AIDSWatch is the largest constituent-driven HIV federal advocacy event in the country, representing a community of 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States.
This year, AIDS United will recognize Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman for her steadfast partnership and leadership in the fight for HIV justice, and Representative Robert Garcia for his advocacy on behalf of communities living with and vulnerable to HIV — and for the promise of his continued leadership in Congress in the years ahead. The event will also celebrate the career-long dedication to HIV and AIDS advocacy by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. She will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement award honoring her groundbreaking role in bringing the AIDS crisis into the halls of Congress from day one of her Congressional career and helping force national leaders to confront a public health emergency that far too many once ignored.
“Speaker Emerita Pelosi helped change what was politically possible in the fight against HIV and AIDS,” AIDS United CEO and President, Carl Baloney, Jr., said. “She used her power to insist that the lives of people living with HIV mattered, that the federal government had a responsibility to act, and that silence was never an option. In honoring leaders at AIDSWatch 2026, we celebrate not only what they have done, but what this moment demands from Congress now and in the years ahead.”
The stakes could not be higher. In the United States, approximately 1.2 million people are living with HIV, and about 1 in 8 do not know their status. In 2023, more than 39,000 people were diagnosed with HIV in the U.S. and affiliated jurisdictions, with the South continuing to shoulder the heaviest burden. Yet the infrastructure that communities rely on is under intense pressure. KFF has reported that CDC represents 91% of all federal HIV prevention funding, even as the FY2026 White House budget request proposed eliminating CDC’s HIV prevention funding line and the Trump Administration is seeking to cut $600 million in key HIV prevention and public health funding in California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota.
At the same time, people living with HIV are facing a convergence of threats: attacks on Medicaid and affordable coverage, instability in prevention infrastructure, stigma and discrimination that still deter care, and state-level decisions that can abruptly cut people off from medication and support. Federal officials recently postponed the March 2026 meeting of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for the third consecutive time, prompting concern about the future of access to no-cost preventive services such as PrEP. In Florida, an emergency state rule that went into effect March 1st is expected to push roughly 16,000 people off AIDS Drug Assistance Program support, a stark reminder that access to treatment remains fragile for far too many Americans.
AIDSWatch 2026 will give journalists multiple opportunities to cover both the policy substance and the human stories driving the HIV movement. Program highlights include:
- Monday, March 16: registration, advocacy institutes, new advocate training, HIV and aging programming, and the AIDSWatch Welcome/Reception.
- Tuesday, March 17: a morning General Session and Plenary focused on impacted communities in “Trump 2.0” and the connection between state, national, and global advocacy; workshops on immigrant access to HIV services, coalition-building, rights-based advocacy, Black HIV prevention research, messaging and movement strategy, and more; followed by the AIDSWatch Congressional Reception at the Rayburn House Office Building.
- Wednesday, March 18: the AIDSWatch Rally on Capitol Hill and a full day of congressional meetings with lawmakers and staff.
Among the sessions expected to resonate most in this political moment are conversations on immigrant communities’ access to HIV care under intensified enforcement, the defense of Black-led HIV research and prevention strategies, the criminalization and coercion that still shape parts of the HIV response, and the role of narrative advocacy in moving policymakers to action.
“Journalists covering health care, Congress, LGBTQ+ communities, racial justice, budget fights, and the future of the social safety net will find an essential story at AIDSWatch,” AIDS United CEO and President, Carl Baloney, Jr., added. “This is where policy meets real life. The people most affected by HIV are coming to Washington to tell Congress exactly what is at stake.”
Media are invited to attend and cover select portions of AIDSWatch 2026, including the plenary, the Congressional Reception, the Capitol Hill rally, and interviews with advocates, policy leaders, and AIDS United representatives.
AIDSWatch 2026
WHEN: March 16–18, 2026
MAIN VENUE: Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel, 2800 Potomac Ave, Arlington, VA 22202
Congressional Reception: Tuesday, March 17, 6:00–8:00 p.m., Rayburn House Office Building, Rayburn Cafeteria
Rally: Wednesday, March 18, 8AM – Capitol Lawn/House side
Members of the Media may RSVP Here – https://forms.gle/YgjExMj5eGtZ4Biv5
Resources:
AIDSWatch 2026 agenda:https://aidsunited.org/action/aidswatch/
AIDSWatch FAQ: https://aidsunited.org/action/aidswatch/faq/
Press Contact:
Miguel A. Ayala
communications@aidsunited.org
202-876-2820
About AIDSWatch
AIDSWatch is presented by AIDS United and partner organizations as the nation’s largest constituent-driven federal HIV advocacy event, bringing together people living with HIV, community leaders, and allies to educate lawmakers and advocate for policies and funding to end the HIV epidemic.