Since the U=U initiative launched three years ago this month, 886 groups spanning nearly 100 countries have joined the fast-growing movement. On the anniversary, the Prevention Access Campaign (PAC), which founded U=U, issued a call to action to global HIV stakeholders, asking them to make four specific commitments that will further promote U=U, fight HIV stigma and help end the epidemic.

U=U, or Undetectable Equals Untransmittable, refers to the fact that people with HIV who take antiretrovirals and maintain an undetectable viral load cannot transmit the virus sexually.

To continue getting the word out about U=U, PAC seeks HIV leaders to make new commitments. A PAC press release spells out these four:

  • Increase the reach and availability of public health information on U=U, especially among communities affected most by HIV

  • Integrate U=U into grantmaking priorities

  • Leverage U=U as a public health argument in advocacy for universal access to treatment and service

  • Hold government leaders accountable for ensuring that U=U is clearly communicated and included in national HIV programs, such as Trump’s “Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America.”

“When we launched U=U, most international health bodies and advocacy organizations were not ready to publicly acknowledge it,” said PAC founder Bruce Richman in the press release. “Some persistently and aggressively fought us. Over the course of the past three years, that has changed, reminding us of what is possible when passionate people join together to demand accurate and meaningful information about our social, sexual and reproductive health.”

POZ March 2019 cover U=U Undetectable = Untransmitable

March 2019

PAC’s call to action also coincides with the 10th annual International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science. To read about the latest findings from the conference, held in Mexico City, click #IAS 2019.

For background on the progress made since U=U launched in June 2016, including data that support the U=U message, read the complete PAC press release. For a list of all the organizations that have signed the U=U consensus statement, click here. And to read POZ’s March 2019 cover story on U=U (pictured above), click here; for the entire contents of that issue, much of which is related to U=U, click here.

To read more about “Ending the HIV Epidemic,” read “What Do We Know About Trump’s HIV Plan for America?”

For related POZ news, see “How Well Do U=U and PrEP Work? The CDC Updates Its Answers” and “What a U=U Leader Thinks About the CDC’s Updated Data on HIV Risk.”