We’re telling everyone: People living with HIV who are on treatment can’t pass it on during sex.
It's one of the most positive messages about HIV in recent years, and we want everyone to know the facts. It reduces the stigma around HIV and provides motivation for people living with HIV to stay on treatment to keep both themselves and their sexual partners healthy.
If everyone knew this fact, we would be one step closer to ending HIV stigma.
While amazing medical progress has been made, knowledge of HIV hasn’t kept up with that progress. Just 23% of people in the UK know that people on effective medication can’t pass the virus on. This lack of knowledge creates stigma.
Stigma affects people living with HIV and also stops others from getting tested. The more people who test and get onto effective treatment, the fewer HIV transmissions will happen.
Our Can’t Pass It On campaign is spreading this message far and wide, so we can end HIV stigma and HIV transmissions, once and for all.
The science
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 treatment (reducing the amount of the virus to ‘undetectable’ levels; also known as having an undetectable viral load), there were zero cases of HIV transmission. This is what is meant by the phrase Undetectable equals Untransmittable (U=U).
This was further backed up in the PARTNER 2 study, published in May 2019, which also showed zero cases of transmission among 782 gay male couples.
This gives us the robust evidence to confidently say that people on HIV treatment can’t pass on the virus during sex. It’s a fact.
We need your help
We’re asking everyone to share the Can’t Pass It On message loud and clear. The more people who know the facts around HIV transmission, the closer we are to ending HIV stigma and transmissions.
Terrence Higgins Trust are proud to be working with three Can’t Pass It On ambassadors on this important campaign; Bake Off and Strictly star, John Whaite, Ollie King from BBC Three’s ‘I Kissed a Boy’, and Terrence Higgins Trust Lived Experience Programme Co-ordinator, Sue Hunter.
Our campaign ambassadors are fundraising to extend the length and reach of the Can’t Pass It On campaign, so that as many people as possible have the opportunity to view it and understand the message. Every donation, no matter the size, brings us one step closer to making this powerful message impossible to ignore.
