U=U

Did you know that if someone is living with HIV is on treatment and has been undetectable (meaning that the level of the virus is so low in the body that it cannot be detected on blood tests) for more than six months, they cannot transmit HIV to anyone else, even if they don’t use a condom? The campaign to publicize this message is called U=U (Undetectable=Untransmittable).

The Canadian AIDS Society was one of the first national organizations to recognize U=U in November 2016, known at the time as Treatment as Prevention (TasP).

Having sex with a person living with HIV who is undetectable is safer than having sex with a person who doesn’t know their HIV status. Some people think that an HIV diagnosis is the end of the world, but the U=U campaign shows that people living with HIV can still have exciting and happy sex lives.