International AIDS Conference
CHLP staff are attending AIDS 2026, the 26th International AIDS Conference, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. CHLP Executive Director S. Mandisa Moore-O’Neal, Senior PJP Attorney Jada Hicks, Staff Attorney Sean McCormick, and Grants Manager Nyx Zierhut will gather with thousands of HIV professionals at the world's largest conference on HIV and AIDS.
Jada and Sean are presenting two posters on Wednesday and Thursday, July 29 and 30, that highlight research on HIV criminalization in the United States in the track focused on political science, laws, ethics, policies, and human rights.
The posters present a comprehensive picture of HIV criminalization in the United States: one documents the continued scope, enforcement, and disproportionate impact of HIV criminal laws on Black, brown, LGBTQ+, and women living with HIV, while the other examines how advocates have successfully reformed or repealed these laws in nearly 20 states over the past decade.
Collectively, they show that HIV criminalization is not only a barrier to health and justice but also a solvable policy problem. By combining rigorous legal and enforcement data with lessons from successful advocacy campaigns, the research offers an evidence-based roadmap for advancing HIV decriminalization in the United States and informing reform efforts around the world.
