Two Dans, One Mission: Reporting at AIDS 2026 Rio

Aim

Vital reporting from the most important global gathering on HIV and AIDS to end stigma and the pandemic

Two Dans, One Mission: Reporting From AIDS 2026 in Rio

Story:

This July, we have the opportunity to report from one of the most important global gatherings on HIV and AIDS: International AIDS Conference 2026. It is a huge honour to be invited to continue building HIV awareness and empowerment, we would love your support to make this happen. 

About us:

We’re Dan Hall and Dan Glass — a documentary filmmaker and an activist who have spent decades working in HIV storytelling and advocacy. The video above is from our recent 2025 World AIDS Day Show 'This is Your life - Celebrating HIV Activist Pioneers.'

In partnership with the British HIV Association (BHIVA) together we will produce the podcast HIV: The Morning After, which explores the hidden stories of the HIV epidemic: the activism, the breakthroughs, the stigma that still lingers, and the people living with the virus today.

At AIDS 2026 we want to create something new - “Rio Calling” - a special six-episode podcast series recorded live from the conference floor in Rio.

Each day we’ll capture the conversations shaping the global HIV response right now — through interviews with activists, clinicians, researchers, and people living with HIV from around the world.

About HIV: The Morning After

HIV: The Morning After has been listened to in 67 countries across six continents. In April 2026, UK listeners accounted for less than half of monthly downloads for the first time. That isn't because the UK audience shrank. UK numbers held strong. The rest of the world grew faster. People in 45 countries listened that month, including Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Angola, countries where living openly with HIV carries profound legal and social consequences. The show's audience grew 77 percent between Series 1 and Series 2. AIDS 2026 in Rio is where the global HIV community gathers. Taking the podcast there means making sure these voices reach the rooms where policy, funding and lived experience meet.

Episodes will explore issues including:

• The fragility of global HIV funding
• Stigma in the modern era
• Inequality and intersectionality
• The gap between medical progress and lived reality
• Women and HIV
• Isolation among long-term survivors

These short daily episodes will be published during the conference so people everywhere — activists, patients, clinicians, and communities — can hear what’s happening in real time.

Why this matters

The HIV story is far from over.

• Funding cuts threaten decades of progress.
• Stigma continues to shape people’s lives.
• And too many voices — especially from the Global South — still go unheard.

Being physically present in Rio allows us to record the voices, tensions and conversations that never make it into official press releases or academic summaries.

Our goal is simple: bring the human story of AIDS 2026 to listeners around the world.

Why we’re crowdfunding

We are seeking £3,500 to cover the basic costs of making this reporting trip possible:

• Flights to Rio
• Accommodation during the conference
• On-site audio production costs

Think:
🎙 activists
🎙 scientists
🎙 gossip from the global HIV response
 🎙 two slightly exhausted gays with microphones

Flights and beds are not cheap, so we’ve launched a crowdfunder to help get us there.

We’re already contributing our own time, equipment and labour. This crowdfunder simply helps us get there and do the work.

What your donation helps cover

£10 — a coffee while editing on zero sleep
£25 — a taxi across Rio with microphones and cables
£250 — one night of accommodation
£200 — a full day of podcast production from the conference floor

Who we are

Dan Hall is an Emmy and Rose d’Or–winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been broadcast internationally.

Dan Glass is a long-time HIV and LGBTQ+ activist associated with ACT UP London and widely recognised for community organising and campaigning.

Together we believe storytelling is one of the most powerful tools we have in the fight against HIV.

How you can help

If you’re able to donate — even a small amount — you’ll be helping bring the voices of AIDS 2026 to people who can’t be there.

If you can’t donate, sharing this page with friends, colleagues, and networks working in HIV, public health, and activism would mean the world.

Thank you for helping us continue telling these stories.

— Dan & Dan

Further support for 'HIV The Morning After - in Rio'

The main podcast provides something no clinical guideline can: extended, honest testimony from people living with HIV, in which complexity and nuance have room to emerge. Many guests are directly critical of medical and HIV professional spaces; failures of provision for trans people, ongoing stigma in sexual health settings, systematic gaps in co-morbidity care. 

Download and engagement data, already showing listenership across more than 50 countries, provides the evidence that supports the broader impact case.

There is also existing evidence that the podcast is already functioning at the level this framework describes. Ellie, a listener from Chester completing a Master's dissertation on internal stigma in people living with HIV, gave the series five stars and wrote: "I came across it as I'm working on my dissertation and it resonated deeply with my research. The podcast tackles heavy, often silenced topics with warmth, honesty, and humour, making it not only informative but profoundly human."

 Separately, Phil Warren at Terrence Higgins Trust wrote to invite Dan Hall to address their newly-diagnosed monthly meeting groups, noting that several requests from group members had prompted the outreach. Both confirm the podcast is already reaching academic researchers and professional networks. Most importantly, HIV writer and activist Alexander Cheves put it most directly: "This podcast will save lives."

Support from HIV Activist Pioneers 

"Not everyone can be on the frontline, but everyone breathing can do something. Supporting activism matters, it turns lived experiences into policy change & reminds the world that treatment & dignity don't happen without people demanding them. Please support Dan and Dan will all your heart and whatever you can afford at the International AIDS Conference 2026" Winnie Sseruma

“It was such a privilege to participate in the ‘HIV: the morning after’ podcast and share my own story alongside so many amazing community activists.

The sheer range and diversity of the voices telling their stories was breathtaking and the humanity and intimacy of each story made for an emotional and inspiring journey. Dan Hall’s warmth, interest and humour made the planning and recording an absolute pleasure, which is no mean feat when you’re talking about life, death and near-death experiences… your own included! With the dynamic duo of Dans Hall & Glass covering the AIDS2026 Conference, I can’t wait to hear and see what amazing insights and experiences they bring back!” Garry Brough 

"Dan Glass and Dan Hall are a formidable team. In the best way possible. Their passion, commitment and agency in both highlighting the critical issues in HIV that still need advocating for, is second to none. They report, raise awareness and Act-Up in the most effective way. Even more important is that they are inclusive and embody the meaningful involvement of communities affected by HIV in spaces and platforms, where decisions about our health and well being are made,  where we need to be to make impact and affect change. Through highlighting and showcasing real people, real voices and real issues. In the most impactful ways possible. Bringing along the community and ensuring that none of us are left behind. They are absolutely best placed to report from the Rio Conference." Angelina Namiba

“Dan Glass, Dan Hall and the ‘HIV: The Morning After’ project continue to amplify vital stories with compassion, courage, and integrity. Their work is an essential contribution to the global HIV response, ensuring that lived experiences remain at the heart of advocacy, visibility, and change.” Reverend Jide Macaulay

"The sad reality of the fight against AIDS is that those who survived the darkest years of the plague in the 80s and 90s are now rapidly passing, and with them, their living testimony. When no one alive remembers what it was like to lose their friends, to organise, to mourn so collectively, are we doomed to repeat it?

Along come people like Dan Hall and Dan Glass. The former is a sharp and eloquent storyteller driven solely by his sense of justice; the latter is a firebrand, old-school, real-deal AIDS activist who knows how important it is to kick up a fuss. Together, they're keeping the testimony alive. Somewhere out there is a newly-positive kid who will discover their history and legacy because of this project, and get everything they need to become a fighter." Alexander Cheves

"Dan Hall's 'HIV: The Morning After' is such an important resource of individuals living or closely affected by HIV sharing their lived experience and knowledge. Break that proverbial leg with this project. You both are inspirational." Jonathan Blake

"The searingly honest accounts of HIV journeys [in these episodes] are truly inspiring; erudite, fiercely intelligent, compassionate, loving, funny, shocking and poignant." Caroline Guinness

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 19th July 2026 at 12:00pm