Cyberattacks and the digital divide are creating new barriers to HIV services
As health and social services have moved online, protecting people’s privacy while making sure digital transformation does not widen existing inequalities has become an urgent
As health and social services have moved online, protecting people’s privacy while making sure digital transformation does not widen existing inequalities has become an urgent priority for the UN’s HIV/AIDS programme, said Daria Ocheret in an interview with UN News. Lessons from the pandemic UNAIDS’ focus on digital security sharpened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdowns pushed HIV testing and treatment services online almost overnight – exposing how unevenly people could access them. In Zimbabwe, a clinic posted detailed guidance online on how to keep receiving antiretroviral medicines during lockdown. But many people living with HIV had only mobile data packages that opened social media and messaging apps, not ordinary websites. “The gap between our assumptions about how digital technologies could improve access to services and what people could actually access was something that really struck me,” Ms. Ocheret told us. In Kazakhstan, an organization founded by women living with HIV had to help clients obtain the QR codes needed to enter health facilities during the pandemic – some had no phone, others did not know how to use the system. The digital divide, she said, runs not just between countries but within communities: among people living with HIV, LGBTQI people, sex workers and people who use drugs, some are highly connected while others lack devices, reliable internet or the skills to get online.
“How do we make sure that digital inequality does not create even greater barriers to HIV services? That requires systemic solutions,” she said. Tweet URL From theoretical risk to real attacks In 2020, UNAIDS helped train women’s organizations in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine in digital security, including the use of VPNs (virtual private networks). “At that time, these threats were still largely theoretical,” Ms. Ocheret said. Not anymore. A 2025 survey of 21 LGBTI organizations in 17 countries found that most had suffered cyberattacks, often repeatedly, and had significant gaps in their ability to respond. Digital violence, she stressed, cannot be separated from what happens offline: offices and shelters run by LGBTI groups are also attacked. Some 64 countries – around a third of the world – still criminalize same-sex relationships, though the Global AIDS Strategy aims to cut that to 10 per cent, a goal reaffirmed in a new political declaration adopted by countries on 22 June. “It would be wrong to say that digital technologies have caused an increase in violence,” Ms. Ocheret said. “They have simply become another space where harm can be inflicted on key populations and on the organizations that support them.” When a data breach can cost a life Unauthorized access to client and staff records is among the gravest risks facing community groups, particularly where same-sex relationships, sex work or drug use are criminalized.
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