Vancouver’s Health Initiative for Men has endorsed an international campaign to communicate the latest HIV research. The results may surprise you.
“Hey guys!” proclaimed a recent Facebook post from the Health Initiative for Men (HIM). “Well, we’re making it official: U=U! … UNDETECTABLE=UNINFECTIOUS!”
The big news unveiled by the Vancouver gay men’s health organization may come as a surprise to anyone unfamiliar with the latest studies into how HIV is transmitted. But it has major implications, far beyond the LGBTQ community to anyone concerned about the virus.
This month, HIM signed onto an international “consensus statement” based on evidence that “individuals with undetectable viral loads do not transmit HIV regardless of the kinds of sex they’re having or the use of additional prevention methods like condoms or (pre-exposure prophylaxis),” HIM stated in its post explaining the campaign.
PrEP – the use of antiretroviral drugs by someone without HIV to prevent transmission – which has been proven to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.
“The evidence has been coming in for a while, but we’re joining others in saying it loud and clear,” HIM stated in the post. “Treatment as Prevention works, and there’s no longer any doubt about it.”
The post bridges B.C. residents with an international Prevention Access Campaign effort to undercut the stigma and fear that still surrounds people living with HIV/AIDS.
According to the Prevention Access Campaign, which spearheaded the “consensus statement” endorsed by HIM and many other organizations, “Much of the messaging about HIV transmission risk is based on outdated research and is influenced by agency or funding restraints and politics which perpetuate sex-negativity, HIV-related stigma and discrimination.”
One of the signatories to the global consensus letter is Vancouver’s own Dr. Julio Montaner, who directs the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and is the Physician Program Director for HIV/AIDS at Providence Health Care.