Community Partners

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Prevention Access Campaign invites you to show support for the Undetectable = Untransmittable message by becoming a Community Partner.
 

Prevention Access Campaign is a community of people living with HIV, researchers, organizations, and other allies who share the common goals to end the dual epidemics of HIV and HIV-related stigma by empowering people with accurate and meaningful information.

Sharing the Undetectable = Untransmittable message provides an unprecedented opportunity to improve the lives of people living with HIV and to dismantle HIV stigma. It has far-reaching public health implications for engagement across each stage of the treatment cascade and for expanded access to treatment and care.  

• Community partners agree with the scientific consensus statement “Risk of Sexual Transmission of HIV from a Person Living with HIV who has an Undetectable Viral Load" that appears here. It has been endorsed by leading HIV experts and researchers from around the world. 

• Community partners agree we can comfortably say that when a person on ART has a sustained undetectable viral for at least six months, they do not transmit HIV to their sexual partners.

• Community partners agree that the health and prevention benefits of viral suppression are platforms to underscore the importance of universal access to treatment and care for all people living with HIV worldwide.

• Community partners agree that treatment is a personal choice, that treatment is first and foremost for personal health, that there are unjust barriers to accessing treatment, that not all people living with HIV will achieve an undetectable viral load, and there is no place for stigmatizing anyone living with HIV at any viral load.

• Community partners agree to support the U = U message. Please use the hashtag #UequalsU in your social media. We'll provide you with suggestions as to how you can join in spreading the word. 

NAM aidsmap - February 9, 2017

NAM aidsmap, one of the foremost sources of HIV information in the world, strongly endorses the ‘Undetectable Equals Untransmittable’ (U=U) Consensus Statement issued by the Prevention Access Campaign.

NAM’s Executive Director, Matthew Hodson, says, “The scientific evidence is clear. Someone who has undetectable levels of virus in their blood does not pose an infection risk to their sexual partners. In terms of HIV prevention, if condom use is safer sex, then sex with someone who has maintained an undetectable viral load is even safer sex."

“This understanding transforms the way that HIV is considered with enormous implications for what it now means to live with HIV and the best ways to prevent it. The preventative impact of effective HIV treatment underlines the importance of expanding access to treatment and of improving treatment uptake and adherence for all people living with HIV worldwide.”

Transmission risk is a major concern for people living with HIV and their sexual partners. Since the results of the PARTNER study it has been clear that the risk of HIV transmission when treatment is effective is negligible. “The fear of catching HIV from a sexual partner fuels HIV stigma, which is why it’s so important that the ‘undetectable equals untransmittable’ message is heard and understood,” says Hodson.

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Read the full statement. 

AIDS United Statement on the Risk of HIV Transmission from a Person Living with HIV who is on Treatment and has an Undetectable Viral Load - March 6, 2017

Substantial evidence strongly demonstrates that a person living with HIV who has a sustained, undetectable viral load cannot sexually transmit HIV to another person. Continued analysis of large-scale clinical trials has shown zero cases of HIV sexual transmission. This expands on prior data that the risk of HIV transmission from a person living with HIV who is on antiretroviral therapy and has achieved an undetectable viral load (viral suppression) in their blood for at least 6 months is negligible to non-existent.

Too many people living with HIV are not getting the message of this benefit of treatment and sustained viral suppression from their clinical providers or the HIV education and advocacy community. Understanding that maintaining viral suppression through successful anti-retroviral therapy not only maintains health but also prevents transmission can encourage people living with HIV to initiate and adhere to treatment regimens and may help reduce HIV-related stigma. We acknowledge, however, that social and structural barriers exist that prevent some people living with HIV from achieving viral suppression.

Outdated HIV criminalization laws and policies in the U.S. do not reflect the current science related to HIV transmission risks.iii Scientific evidence about the reality of transmission risk based in this data about viral suppression and transmission risk has already had an impact on HIV criminalization statutes and prosecutions in Europe. iv

Therefore, AIDS United recommends:

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1. That providers and educators consistently share the message that new evidence demonstrates that a person living with HIV who has a sustained, undetectable viral load cannot sexually transmit HIV to another person.

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2. That the Department of Health and Human Services Antiretroviral Guidelines Committee examine this issue further and consider updating Guidelines language.

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3. That HIV criminal laws and policies in the United States be modernized to reflect the science related to viral suppression and HIV transmission risk.

Additional Information

AIDS United signed on to the Consensus Statement issued by the Prevention Access Campaign, a relatively new multi-agency campaign to end HIV and HIV-related stigma by expanding access to HIV prevention and empowering people with/vulnerable to HIV with accurate information.

Read the full statement.

CATIE - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange - January 13, 2017

All of us here at CATIE, and indeed around the world, are celebrating the most significant development in the HIV world since the advent of effective combination therapy 20 years ago – people living with HIV with sustained undetectable viral loads can confidently declare to their sexual partners “I’m not infectious!” The “fabulousness” of this news cannot be overstated. With or without a condom, if you’re undetectable you won’t pass along HIV!

This is an absolute game-changer and those who live with HIV can proudly share this information. At the same time, service providers working in HIV must get up to speed fast and share this far and wide with their communities. CATIE will be developing more resources to help share this momentous news so stay tuned!

In the meantime, look at the prevention resources on catie.ca and add your organization’s name to the Consensus Statement of the Prevention Access Campaign. Let’s get the word out!  Get tested, get on treatment, become undetectable and have lots of great sex!  

Laurie Edmiston, Executive Director CATIE - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange 

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Read the full statement. 

Housing Works, NYC  The Undetectables - December 15, 2016

UNDETECTABLE = UNTRANSMITTABLE!
 

People who are Undetectable cannot transmit the virus to others. When you're undetectable, you both protect your own health and prevent new HIV infections. And many experts agree!

Having an undetectable viral load for at least six months and continuing to stay on medication means you are not putting your partner at risk. Consider having an open conversation with your partner or a friend you can trust. Let them know how you’re feeling, what you’re scared of, and how they might be able to help you continue making healthy choices. Becoming undetectable is a process – so be patient with yourself, and ask others to do the same for you.

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View the Undetectables website.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation - January 6, 2017

Studies show that people living with HIV who are on treatment and have a suppressed viral load do not transmit HIV to HIV-negative sex partners. In other words, if you are living with HIV and have an undetectable viral load, you don’t have to worry about passing HIV on to your sex partners.

For many people, being undetectable offers a renewed sense of freedom, brings less anxiety around sex, and reduces stigma associated with HIV.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation supports the Undetectable = Untransmittable message by Prevention Access Campaign. Read more about the initiative.

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View the website.

The Well Project  - April 20, 2017

The Well Project, the premier online resource for women and HIV, is proud to endorse the Consensus Statement* by the Prevention Access Campaign that "Undetectable Equals Untransmittable" (U=U). In our mission to change the course of the HIV/AIDS pandemic though a unique and comprehensive focus on women and girls, we are committed to supporting and disseminating the message that U=U through our diverse resources.

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Increasing awareness that having an undetectable viral load means that people living with HIV will not transmit the virus can have a dramatic impact on public and personal perceptions of HIV. The Well Project has long believed that HIV stigma is the biggest barrier to ending the HIV epidemic and we have worked tirelessly to break down that stigma by providing access to information, community support, and advocacy. We believe the U=U campaign is an extraordinarily powerful tool with the potential to address all kinds of HIV stigma – including institutional stigma occurring in healthcare settings, workplaces, and broadly across society, interpersonal stigma that can be so damaging among family and friends, and internalized stigma, which many people don't even realize they have. We expect this campaign to open eyes, minds, and hearts and to be particularly empowering for people living with HIV.

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Read the full statement.

ICASO (International Council of AIDS Service Organizations)

INA (Māori, Indigenous & South Pacific) HIV/AIDS Foundation

- January 20, 2017

ICASO (International Council of AIDS Service Organizations) and INA (Māori, Indigenous & South Pacific) HIV/AIDS Foundation strongly endorse the Undetectable = Untransmittable (U = U) Consensus Statement issued by the Prevention Access Campaign. The scientific evidence is clear and unequivocal: effective treatment reduces HIV transmission risk to zero.

The Consensus Statement highlights unprecedented scientific consensus that early diagnosis and treatment with antiretroviral therapy (ART) not only restores people living with HIV to a normal life expectancy, but it also has far-reaching public health impacts. This has enormous implications for the battle against the epidemic, particularly in the global south and regions such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where access to HIV diagnostics and ART remains poor. Achieving U = U will not be possible where HIV diagnostics, such as viral load testing, are unavailable, where stockouts interrupt treatment access, and where there are inadequate community and health system support to maintain adherence. The new evidence highlighted by the Consensus Statement will be important in driving much-needed improvements across the HIV cascade.

The latest scientific evidence also dispels dangerous and inaccurate myths about the transmission risk posed by people living with HIV. Public fear about HIV has driven HIV stigma, discrimination, human rights violations and a grossly disproportionate application of the criminal law in cases of non-disclosure to sexual partners. People living with HIV in countries around the world have been convicted of serious criminal offences, such as aggravated sexual assault, even when no transmission occurs.

Many populations are unable to realize the full potential of ART because of poverty, racism, homophobia, violence against women and laws which criminalize sex workers, men who have sex with men and people who use drugs. Dismantling the legal, economic and societal barriers to diagnosis and treatment for people living with HIV is, more than ever, critical to ending AIDS.

ICASO and INA call on policymakers to remove the legal and economic barriers to HIV diagnosis and treatment and to reform laws which criminalize people living with HIV.

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The consensus statement is a clarion call to governments and other funders that increasing access to ART is critical to halting the AIDS epidemic and reaching the “90-90-90” goals set by the United National Global Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Current financing for treatment via The Global Fund, bilateral agencies, foundations and national health ministries are inadequate to achieving these goals.

The evidence is in. It is time to act. Now!

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Read the full statement.