The HIV response at an inflection point: resilience, innovation, and equity

World AIDS Day 2025 arrives at a critical inflection point for the global HIV response. Four decades of scientific progress have transformed HIV into a manageable chronic condition, yet funding contractions, widening inequities, and persistent stigma threaten progress towards epidemic control. This review of the Special Collection highlights emerging challenges and opportunities across prevention, care, and social contexts, with a focus on resilience. Digital innovation, accelerated by COVID-19, is reshaping HIV service delivery through telehealth, remote engagement, and online research platforms. Studies of PrEP use across the Asia-Pacific region reveal cyclical patterns of prevention, varying preferences for long-acting and oral formulations, and the centrality of person-centred approaches. Other papers examine sexual satisfaction among people living with HIV, showing the ongoing influence of stigma even in the era of U=U (Undetectable equals untransmittable). Several contributions highlight enduring social and gendered inequities, including stigma among healthcare workers and gaps in menopause, reproductive health, and psychosocial care for women living with HIV. Evidence from humanitarian settings demonstrates how climate-related crises heighten HIV vulnerabilities, while peer-led navigation models illustrate community resilience. These papers underscore the need to integrate scientific innovation with equity, community leadership, and sustained solidarity as the global HIV movement adapts to a rapidly changing landscape.