Policy documents don’t usually trigger excitement. But at this week’s 12th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science, a rare thing happened when the World Health Organization presented its latest brief.
“People living with HIV who have an undetectable viral load, have zero risk of transmitting HIV to their sexual partners,” Lara Vojnov, technical officer at WHO’s department of global HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections programs, said before a packed room of delegates who erupted in applause.
For many people working on HIV this information is not new. A campaign that started in 2016, called “U=U,” which is short for “undetectable equals to untransmittable,” was essentially making the same argument and WHO has also included this information in its HIV treatment guidelines.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
