First Lady Monica Geingos and Sir Bob Geldof were presented with the 2018 World Without AIDS Award at the 25th Opera Gala event hosted by the German AIDS Foundation at the Deutsche Oper on 4 November in Berlin, Germany. The award presented to the First Lady is in recognition of her contribution to the global AIDS response and her leadership in supporting the global agenda to end AIDS by 2030. Previous recipients of the prestigious award include Bill and Melinda Gates, Princes Mabel van Oranje-Nassau and UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé. German Health Minister, Jens Spahn, handed over the award at a high profile event attended by over 2 000 guests, including the President of the Federal Republic of German, Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier and First Lady Elke Büdenbender. In her acceptance speech Madame Geingos focused on Namibia’s success in its HIV response, and emphasised how structural inequalities can undermine the gains made if social and economic empowerment approaches are not integrated. The First Lady also highlighted that Namibia is on track to reach the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets by 2020 with the recent Namibia Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (NAMPHIA) indicating that women have already achieved this target, while the combined statistics for men and women reflect 86-96-91. The First Lady attributed this success to the value of global solidarity and investments which have been matched by Namibia’s commitment to domestically funding of its HIV response. The Namibian Government’s domestic contribution constitutes 65% of the country’s HIV response. Geingos focuses her initiatives on engaging young people on HIV through the #BeFree Movement, a multi-faceted youth-driven platform which also facilitates access to services. She dedicated her award to the #BeFree Movement and acknowledged that her recognition “is a timely reminder that genuine youth inclusion adds real value in both policy formulation and implementation. The youth of today are the generation that will end AIDS, let them lead the way.”