Accuracy Watchdog initiative to fight stigma and scientific misinformation

A joint initiative of the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Prevention Access Campaign (PAC) launched this month. It’s called Accuracy Watchdog and aims to fight stigma and misleading reports about HIV, particularly information about  transmission risks.

There is still a lot of scientific misinformation regarding people who are taking  ARV medications and maintain an undetectable viral load or HIV-negative people using Truvada as a   pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a once-a-day pill regiment.

According to recent major studies, people living with HIV cannot transmit the virus to a partner if they’ve consistently taken their medication and achieved an ‘undetectable viral load and also use of pre-exposure prophylaxis by HIV-negative people  dramatically reduce your risk of acquiring the virus.  

“The majority of people living with HIV are still being led to believe that they will be infectious for the rest of their lives or until there is a cure. The message that we’re no longer capable of passing HIV on to others is the defining moment that many have been waiting for. It lifts the shame and the fear of transmitting the virus on to someone you love, someone you have sex with or someone with whom you conceive a child. We believe sharing this information will help dismantle HIV stigma, which is not only harmful to people living with HIV but is perhaps the greatest barrier to ending the epidemic. For some people living with HIV, staying undetectable and therefore uninfectious is a reason to start and stay on treatment,” PAC’s representatives stated