With a new consensus that undetectable equals untransmittable, ending the AIDS epidemic in Canada is much more attainable than we previously thought.
Having turned 60 two months ago, I know there’s nothing quite like a milestone birthday to force you to get serious about your priorities and your future. The HIV response is facing our own wake-up call this Dec. 1 as we mark the 30th World AIDS Day – a milestone I never imagined we would reach when I started working in HIV 30 years ago.
I have spent more than half of my life working in the HIV response, and while our goals have remained unchanged – reducing HIV infections and keeping people healthy – they have sometimes felt lofty and long-term. Something to strive towards, but always just out of reach.
That is no longer the case. Hundreds of prominent HIV leaders and organizations have now endorsed a new consensus based on years of scientific research: a person living with HIV who takes treatment – to the point where the amount of the virus in their body is undetectable in blood tests – does not transmit the virus to their sexual partners. In short, undetectable equals untransmittable (U=U).