GLAAD's sixth annual State of HIV Stigma report has found that most Americans have seen little to no depiction of people living with HIV in media over the past year, warning that this near-invisibility undermines public understanding of the condition. The report, produced with Gilead Sciences, argues that seeing real stories of people living successfully with HIV encourages testing and treatment, and calls on media, policymakers and public health leaders to better reflect modern realities of a now treatable and preventable condition.

The study found 72% of Americans had not seen stories featuring real people living with HIV in the past 12 months, up from 66% in 2024, while 70% had seen no such depictions in TV or film, a figure that has risen each year since 2023. Only one LGBTQ character living with HIV appeared on television in the 2024–2025 season and will not return, while just one of 225 major studio films analysed featured a character with HIV, set in the early years of the epidemic; HIV was mentioned in only 0.09% of podcast episodes and seen on social media by just 15% of respondents. GLAAD also noted that 44% of Americans do not understand that an undetectable viral load means HIV cannot be sexually transmitted, despite roughly 1.2 million Americans living with HIV, 13% of whom are unaware of their status.