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What is NYHAAD?

National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) is commemorated annually on April 10th to urge policymakers and the public to take action regarding the impact of HIV and AIDS on young people. The day also highlights the HIV prevention, treatment, and care campaigns of young people in the U.S. Check out our social media toolkit to participate.

Join Us for NYHAAD 2026!

Check out this week’s schedule!

APRIL 6th – #NYHAAD 101 Launch

Stay tuned to our Instagram account @advocatesforyouth to learn more about the NYHAAD campaign, our values, and our demands.

TUESDAY, APRIL 7th – NYHAAD Ambassador Spotlights

Follow us at @MyStoryOutLoud to see how NYHAAD Ambassadors are leading HIV prevention, treatment, and care campaigns in their communities.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8 – Healthcare Professionals, Youth, and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)

Join us in urging healthcare professionals to learn more about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and young people, and their unique role in addressing barriers. In partnership with Decera Clinical Education, we’re sharing a medical education series for healthcare professionals, Paths Forward in PrEP: Overcoming Barriers to PrEP Engagement in Adolescents. Share the series, using our social media toolkit, throughout the day.

THURSDAY, APRIL 9 – Stay tuned to @advocatesforyouth for a post about How to Support Young People Living with HIV.

FRIDAY, APRIL 10 –

April 10th is National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day! Join us and thousands of accounts across the country in posting online using #NYHAAD. We encourage you to use the Social Media Toolkit here for inspiration. Remember to use #NYHAAD in your posts, no matter what social media network you choose. In addition, join us in uplifting Our HIV Plan! We must tell policymakers, the media, and activists that young people support HIV education, prevention, and treatment. Sign on now!

Join us for an 18+ virtual screening of Daybreak and a live chat in partnership with Foreground (formerly known as black, gay, stuck at home). Foreground is a project co-created by Michael Ward (@michaelxward) and Joshua Henry Jenkins (@joshjenks). As the world was asked to stay at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, they recognized a need for affinity and community.

Click here to register for the screening of Daybreak, written and directed by Stephen Tolkin. Note: This event includes mature themes and emotionally impactful content. 

Recommended for audiences 18+. Viewer discretion advised.

Download NYHAAD Social Media Toolkit

Why is NYHAAD important?

Today’s young people are the first generation who have never known a world without HIV and AIDS. The CDC reports that in 2020, youth aged 13 to 24 made up 21% of the new HIV diagnoses in the United States. Young people living with HIV are the least likely of any age group to be retained in care and have a suppressed viral load. Addressing the impact of HIV on young people requires they have access to affirming, culturally-competent, and medically accurate resources and tools.

What is the NYHAAD Collective?

The National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) Collective is comprised of youth activists leading HIV prevention, treatment, and care campaigns in their communities. Their campaigns highlight the challenges faced by young people living with and impacted by HIV, offer insight on how they combat stigma and discrimination on local, state, and federal levels, and enhance the awareness among physicians, policymakers, and youth-serving organization staff, etc. about the existing disparities.

What are the campaign demands?

➤ Increasing empathy and reducing stigma about HIV and its impact on young people on campus and in communities; ➤ Affirming policies around HIV care, treatment, and prevention on campus and in communities; ➤ Decriminalizing HIV; ➤ Accessing HIV services, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), on-campus and in communities without parental consent; ➤ Updating sex education curricula, which includes medically accurate information about HIV.

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