Since 1988, the world has recognized December 1 as World AIDS Day. This year, however, U.S. public officials are not permitted to acknowledge it. Why not? A State Department spokesperson told the New York Times it’s because “An awareness day is not a strategy.”

Of course an awareness day is not a strategy.* It’s a frame.

Amid the eternal chaos of world events, an awareness day says, “Look here. Pay attention. This matters.”

The awareness day for HIV has special resonance because stigma, shame, and fear have always compounded the danger of infection itself. When people avoid testing and treatment because they are afraid their communities will learn they have HIV, silence can quite literally equal death, and public acceptance can save lives.

Effective communication is essential to public health. Diagnostics, vaccines, medications work only when people trust and use them. We’re now seeing what happens when that trust begins to break down. (Measles epidemic. Unpasteurized milk. Etc.)

Ignoring World AIDS Day squanders an opportunity to focus attention, just for a moment, on what still needs to be done to end the global HIV epidemic. And it undermines a fierce, decades-long effort, led by people with HIV, to communicate the beauty and value of their lives. The administration may be silent this World AIDS Day, but the message they send is strident and spiteful.

*Let’s remember that slashing support for scientific research and life-saving global health programs, as this administration has done, is certainly not a strategy for ending HIV.