We’re spreading the word that people on effective HIV treatment can’t pass it on.
If everyone knew this, we could bring an end to stigma around HIV. Not only that, but we could stop HIV transmissions altogether.
We’ve launched our Can’t Pass It On campaign to spread this message far and wide.
The science bit
For the past 20 years, evidence has been building to show that your likelihood of passing on HIV is linked to the amount of the virus in your blood.
The landmark PARTNER study, published in 2016, looked at 58,000 instances of sex without a condom where one partner was HIV positive and one was HIV negative.
Results found that where the HIV positive partner was on effective treatment (reducing the amount of the virus to ‘undetectable’ levels), there were zero cases of HIV transmission.
This gives us the robust evidence to confidently say that people on effective HIV treatment can’t pass on the virus.
Quote textTelling people about what ‘undetectable’ means, spreading this message that we can’t pass it on, is a way to give HIV positive people confidence.
What we’re doing
We’re working with communities, media, policy-makers and community groups to get this message across to as many people as possible.
By helping to spread the word and ensure that people know the facts about HIV and effective treatment, we hope to tackle stigma and remove the fear that often surrounds the virus.
We hope this will also lead to people getting more frequent and earlier HIV tests.
