Gareth Thomas, a former Welsh rugby player who disclosed his HIV-positive status in 2019, traveled to Rio de Janeiro this summer to participate in the International AIDS Conference and support the Tackle HIV campaign, an initiative aimed at reducing stigma and spreading accurate information about living with HIV.
Thomas joined local activists including Welton Gabriel, a 36-year-old event organizer from São Paulo who tested positive for HIV twelve years ago. Gabriel’s experience illustrates the persistent discrimination faced by people living with the virus in Brazil. When he disclosed his status to close friends, many ended contact with him. Gabriel contracted a treatment-resistant strain of HIV and required seven months of medical intervention before his condition stabilized, though he has since found an effective treatment regimen.
Brazil, home to approximately 214 million people, has the largest HIV-positive population in Latin America, with nearly 1.1 million individuals living with the virus. Research from UNAIDS Brazil indicates that more than half of all HIV-positive individuals in the country have experienced discrimination. Despite the country’s public healthcare system providing free access to medications that suppress HIV and prevent transmission, stigma remains a significant barrier to public health efforts.
Advocates attribute much of the stigma to outdated perceptions of HIV rooted in the country’s history. The death of iconic Brazilian singer Cazuza from AIDS at age 32 became a defining moment in the nation’s understanding of the disease, and perceptions have remained largely unchanged since 1990. Gabriel notes that many Brazilians remain unaware of how substantially medical science has transformed HIV prognosis over the past several decades, with the virus still widely viewed as a death sentence rather than a manageable condition.
The public health impact of these misconceptions is measurable. National health data shows that 27% of HIV-positive individuals in Brazil are diagnosed only after their condition has progressed to advanced AIDS, when their immune systems are severely compromised. More than 9,000 people died from AIDS in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available. Medical professionals note this toll is preventable given the availability of free testing and treatment options throughout the country.
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