Brussels, November 4th 2026
The Legacy Chest is now available online, bringing together stories, reflections and testimonies from long-term and lifetime survivors of HIV. Launched as part of the Long-Term Survivors of HIV – Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future project, the archive preserves the voices of people who have lived through the HIV/AIDS pandemic and makes their knowledge accessible to current and future generations.
Available through a dedicated YouTube channel and the websites of the organisations behind the project, the Legacy Chest honours survivors’ resilience and contributions. It brings together more than 30 stories, with a combined duration of over 220 minutes, documenting survivors’ perspectives and the knowledge gained through decades of living with HIV. It aims to safeguard their stories as part of the HIV community’s collective memory and ensure that their insights continue to inform the HIV response.
Why the Legacy Chest matters
The stories gathered in the Legacy Chest reflect a wide range of experiences, backgrounds and generations. They include the voices of people who have lived with HIV for decades, as well as lifetime survivors born with HIV or diagnosed in early childhood. Together, they document experiences of activism and advocacy, navigating healthcare systems, confronting stigma and discrimination, and building meaningful lives and communities.
These testimonies are more than personal accounts: they are a valuable resource for advocates, policymakers, healthcare professionals, researchers, educators and future generations of activists. By sharing first-hand experiences, the Legacy Chest can help inform advocacy and policy change, support education and awareness-raising, and strengthen understanding of the needs and realities of people living and ageing with HIV.
Above all, the Legacy Chest is an invitation to listen, learn and build bridges across generations, ensuring that the knowledge and experiences of long-term and lifetime survivors continue to shape the future.
Discover the Legacy Chest
The Legacy Chest stories are hosted on the project’s YouTube channel, with content shared through the websites of the partner organisations. We invite communities, organisations and individuals to explore the collection, share it within their networks, and engage with these testimonies with respect for the dignity and agency of the people who have chosen to tell their stories.
We also encourage long-term and lifetime survivors and those who carry survivor knowledge in their communities to see the Legacy Chest as an invitation to contribute their voices and experiences, where participation opportunities are available.
In their own words
Here is a glimpse of what you will find in the collection:
I realised that there are people that are like me, unlike me, look like me, that don’t look like me, that are living with this virus, but they are living full, fulfilled lives. They are connecting with each other, they are sharing important work, they are going to governments and policymakers and making them listen to us.
Muluba, Canada
I remember the dreadful 40-degree fevers where my body seemed to run out of control. But I also remember my time with AIDS as a time of heightened awareness of the wonder and joy of life. In between the bad times, when the doctors had mixed their antibiotic cocktails just right and the gut medicine was working, there was a kind of delicious early retirement. There was no time for hesitation or self-doubt. I just was. The freedom.
Gus Cairns, United Kingdom
Life is a scary ride, and I believe our purpose here is to make that ride a bit less scary for someone else. That’s it, and that applies double for people living with HIV.
Mark S. King, USA
Legacy Chest: https://www.eatg.org/hivlts-legacy-chest/
Legacy Chest Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LongTermSurvivorsHIV
Learn more about the project: https://www.eatg.org/projects/long-term-survivors-of-hiv
For enquiries about the Legacy Chest or the use, reproduction or citation of its content, please contact
Follow the project’s social media on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn
#HIVLTS
#LegacyChestHIV
The project is led by the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) in partnership with Ribbon – A Center of Excellence (USA), The Reunion Project (USA), and Realize (Canada). It has been developed by EATG and partner organisations, and was made possible through grants from Gilead Sciences, ViiV Healthcare and Merck, Sharp & Dohme.
Get involved
Are you living with HIV/AIDS? Are you part of a community affected by HIV/AIDS and co-infections? Do you work or volunteer in the field? Are you motivated by our cause and interested to support our work?
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