Our World AIDS Day theme for 2026 is From Progress to Possibility: honoring our community, advancing the science, shaping what comes next.

Presenting Sponsor InterContinental Kansas City at the Plaza welcomes you to World AIDS Day 2026!

Progress is the people who carried this city through the darkest years of the epidemic. The ones we lost and the ones still here, activists, caregivers, clinicians, and the organizations that never stopped showing up.

Possibility is a front-row seat to scientific advancement. This December, we're honored to host an exclusive conversation with "the Kansas City Patient," one of 13 known people worldwide in long-term HIV remission, and Dr. Wissam Al-Etrouni, their physician who reported their case in Rio. Each case like this gives researchers clues toward approaches that could one day help far more people.

Purpose is where Kansas City comes in. Scientific breakthroughs do not erase stigma, close gaps in care, or keep someone housed while they stay in treatment. That work is local. ASF's primary recipients, KC CARE Health Center, SAVE Inc., and Hope Care Center, serve the nearly 6,000 people living with HIV in our community, and our grants to other local nonprofits extend that work into prevention, education, and whole person health citywide.