As health and social services have moved online, protecting individual privacy while ensuring that digital transformation does not worsen existing inequalities has become an urgent priority for the UN HIV/AIDS agenda, Daria Ocheret said in an interview with PK Press Club.
Lessons from the pandemic
UNAIDS’ focus on digital safety deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdowns pushed HIV testing and treatment services online almost overnight, revealing how unevenly people could access them.
In Zimbabweone clinic has published detailed advice online on how to continue to receive antiretroviral drugs during lockdown. But many people living with HIV only had mobile data plans that opened up to social media and messaging apps, not regular websites.
“The gap between our assumptions about how digital technologies could improve access to services and what people could actually access really struck me,” Ms. Ocheret told us.
In Kazakhstanan organization founded by women living with HIV had to help clients obtain the QR codes needed to enter health facilities during the pandemic – some didn’t have phones, others didn’t know how to use the system.
The digital divide, she explained, is not only between countries but also 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 access or the skills to connect.
“How can we ensure that digital inequalities do not create even greater barriers to HIV services? This requires systemic solutions,” she said.
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.
No more. A 2025 survey of 21 LGBTI organizations in 17 countries found that most had experienced 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 relationsalthough the Global AIDS Strategy aims to reduce this figure to 10 percent, a goal reaffirmed in a new political declaration adopted by countries on June 22.
“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 damage can be inflicted on key populations and the organizations that support them. »
When a data breach can cost a life
Unauthorized access to client and staff records is among the most serious risks facing community groups, particularly where same-sex relationships, sex work or drug use are criminalized.
UNAIDS partners in Eastern Europe and Central Asia reported fake dating app profiles, illegal phone searches, social media surveillance, blackmail and disinformation campaigns targeting activists.
A Central Asian organization was hit by a series of hacks and phishing attacks that exposed its office address and lists of its activists, triggering blackmail and harassment that forced it to close its doors.
Staff eventually returned to work under a new organization with its own cybersecurity policy – although funding was too limited to regularly update its defenses or issue secure devices.
New tools, new risks
Even as funding declines, chatbots and other digital services are becoming an attractive and inexpensive way to reach people.
In BrazilA chatbot designed for transgender youth has proven surprisingly reliable: Some users share things with it that they wouldn’t say to a social worker.
But this trust depends on confidentiality. “If someone asks about the side effects of medications used for HIV prevention or treatment, that question alone can indirectly indicate that the person is living with HIV. In contexts marked by stigma and criminalization, this can put them at risk,” Ms. Ocheret said.
Shared phones increase risk: researchers Kenya found that many people share a single device with relatives, neighbors, or friends, so a chatbot notification or browsing history could inadvertently reveal a person’s HIV status or sexual orientation.
Closing the gap
Artificial intelligence is already helping with vaccine research, epidemiological analysis and health advice, but Ms Ocheret warned that better-funded organizations can afford secure software, IT staff and paid AI tools with stronger protections – while smaller groups often cannot.
Rather than developing a one-size-fits-all solution, UNAIDS supports tools developed by communities themselves and helps scale up what already works.
His advice to organizations: regularly review digital and physical security risks, keep protocols up to date, secure access to legal advice, and set aside a dedicated security budget.
