Dear friends and colleagues,
We are thrilled and honored to announce the establishment of the Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) Global Community Board (UGCB) to support the continued growth, impact, and community-driven leadership of U=U movements around the world.
These extraordinary activists living with HIV on every continent have demonstrated their commitment and action to share the U=U message with communities inclusive of all people living with HIV, working collaboratively in communications, education, and advocacy to ensure that U=U can be a reality for everyone.
The UGCB will work closely with the Prevention Access Campaign staff and partners to integrate U=U into national and global HIV/AIDS responses to greatly improve the lives of people living with HIV; reduce stigma; increase HIV testing, treatment initiation, adherence, and continuity of care; remove social, structural, and legal barriers to HIV care; and accelerate toward ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
An estimated 10 million of the 37 million people living with HIV worldwide are not receiving the quality information, treatment, and care to maintain good health and be free of worry about transmission. This is unacceptable. We have a lot of work to do to ensure all people living with HIV know U=U and have the support they need to experience its freedoms, as we do.
We have a lot of work to do to ensure all people living with HIV know U=U and have the support they need to experience its freedoms, as we do.
Toward this goal, we will focus on fostering collaboration to increase access and remove barriers to U=U. These barriers vary according to region and circumstances and often include HIV stigma, lack of housing, lack of sexual and reproductive health services, lack of information and effective treatment literacy education, lack of mental health support, discriminatory laws and practices, complacency, and many forms of prejudice. People living with HIV have been devalued and exploited in every sector of the global response for far too long.
This is an exciting moment to turn the focus of the global response to supporting people living with HIV with the information, treatment, and services that we need to live healthily *and* not pass on HIV. With U=U, everyone wins.
This is an exciting moment to turn the focus of the global response to supporting people living with HIV with the information, treatment, and services that we need to live healthily *and* not pass on HIV. U=U is a community-led cost-effective strategy for both individual and public health. With U=U, everyone wins. The more people who can reach and maintain U=U, the healthier we will be as a community of people living with HIV, and the closer we will come to ending the epidemic. We are hopeful and excited about using the win-win concept as a tool in our advocacy to advance health equity for people living with HIV.
Our collective message to the field, especially other HIV advocates and activists, is:
This is how we win! Now is our time to come together and show decision-makers that investing in the health and well-being of people living with HIV is not only our right, it’s the key to ending the epidemic. Working together to increase access and remove social, structural, and legal barriers to U=U will save lives *and* prevent new transmissions. Let’s make the change we seek and share the news that making U=U a reality for all people living with HIV is a Win-Win!
We are hopeful and excited about using the win-win concept as a tool in our advocacy to advance health equity
for people living with HIV.
Erika Castellanos from Global Action for Trans Equality (GATE) and Jeff Kong from Love Without Borders Foundation Bejing are serving as co-chairs. Please join us in welcoming:
- Brent Allan (Australia) @BrentAllanKidd
- Franco Bova (Argentina) @francoLbova
- Erika Castellanos (Netherlands) @EriKaCa1075
- Tori Cooper (USA) @MsToriCooper1
- Mandisa Dukashe (South Africa) @Mandisa_Dukashe
- Maximina Jokonya (Zimbabwe) @maxminaj2
- Arda Karapinar (Turkey) @ardakarapinar
- Kong Lingkun (Jeff Kong) (China) @JeffKong_cn
- William Matovu (Uganda) @Matovuwilliam1
- Kennedy Mupeli (Botswana) @KMupeli
- Angelina Namiba (United Kingdom) @Angelina_namiba
- Yana Panfilova (Ukraine) @YPanfilova
- Jumoke S. Patrick (Jamaica) @PatrickJumoke
- Inad Quinones Rendon (Philippines) @Inad_Rie
We look forward to working with these leaders and you until all people living with HIV are supported to experience the freedom of U=U.
In solidarity and gratitude,
Jacquelyne Alesi - Director of U=U Global Community Leadership - Prevention Access Campaign
Erika Castellanos - Co-Chair, U=U Global Community Board - Global Action for Trans Equality (GATE)
Jeff Kong - Co-chair, U=U Global Community Board - Love Without Borders Foundation Bejing
Bruce Richman- Founding Executive Director - Prevention Access Campaign
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Prevention Access Campaign and partners launched the Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) campaign in 2016 to build and communicate a science-based consensus on the revolutionary but largely unknown fact: people living with HIV on treatment with an undetectable viral load cannot transmit HIV to sexual partners. Today, U=U is widely accepted by the global medical and scientific community. U=U has grown into a thriving community-led movement in over one hundred countries, changing what it means to live and love with HIV.
#UequalsU
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