New Zealand has become home to the world’s first sperm bank that will allow men living with HIV and on effective treatment to donate.
This is great news because it takes us one big step forward to changing attitudes about HIV that unfortunately remain stuck in the 1980s.
By launching the sperm bank ahead of World AIDS Day on 1 December, it’s also a timely reminder of how far we’ve come in the epidemic.
At Terrence Higgins Trust, we’re more than happy to champion anything that updates people’s knowledge of HIV. Our Can’t Pass It On campaign, featuring couples lying intimately in bed, was all about promoting the fact that people living with HIV and on effective treatment can’t pass it on.
And the intimacy – that post-coital suggestion – of the campaign is crucial as far too many people are ruling out a relationship with someone who’s HIV positive for no reason whatsoever. In fact, we found almost half of people wouldn’t even kiss someone living with HIV – despite HIV never being passed on through kissing.
To be clear: effective HIV treatment now means that I can live a normal and healthy life. Even more amazingly it means I cannot pass on the virus to my HIV negative husband.
“In nearly four decades, an HIV diagnosis has gone from being a death sentence for far too many, to now being a manageable life-long condition.”
In the UK we’ve made huge progress in HIV medicine, with 97% of people who are diagnosed and on treatment unable to pass on the virus.
Then, in terms of sperm and babies, we also know that effective treatment hugely reduces the chances of vertical transmission, where babies are born with HIV or it’s passed on during infancy. This means vertical transmissions have almost been eradicated in the UK. For women with an undetectable viral load who follow advice from healthcare professionals, the risk of transmission is around 0.1%. Across the country, women living with HIV are giving birth to healthy babies not living with the virus and men and women living with HIV are becoming amazing mums and dads.
The progress in HIV science has been one of the biggest success stories in modern medicine and HIV positive parents having HIV negative children is an amazing symbol of what’s been achieved. Our understanding of the virus, including how to treat and prevent moves at an incredibly fast pace so it’s vital that policies and practices reflect this.
“Our last fight against this epidemic doesn’t lie in laboratories, it lies in the hearts and minds of everyone to become more informed about HIV and to ditch outdated attitudes forever.”
But despite the fantastic progress in science, public attitudes have not kept up.
Polling we commissioned found that nearly half of UK adults would feel uncomfortable kissing someone living with HIV – despite there being absolutely zero risk of transmission. While over one-third would feel uncomfortable going on a date with someone living with the virus.
It’s this stigma that is holding us back from ending new HIV transmissions altogether.
Demonstrating that your life does not stop following an HIV diagnosis is so important in changing attitudes. Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas has done just that. Since he spoke about living with HIV we’ve seen a surge in people coming forward to access information about HIV, including information about how HIV treatment stops the virus from being passed on.
Gareth has spoken so passionately about not posing any risk to his HIV negative husband. Yet we found only 19% of adults know that effective treatment means people living with HIV cannot pass it on.
If everyone knew this stigma busting fact, we could not only end HIV stigma but we could see an end to the HIV epidemic. Which is now the goal of our joint HIV Commission with NAT (National AIDS Trust) exploring workable ways of ending HIV transmissions over the next decade – and we’re proud to have Gareth as one of our talented and passionate commissioners.
HIV-related stigma continues to hold people back from getting tested. It impacts the mental health of people living with the virus. And it results in far too many people living in shame. Around 1 in 14 people living with HIV in the UK still do not know their status – that’s why breaking barriers to testing must be a priority.
In nearly four decades, an HIV diagnosis has gone from being a death sentence for far too many, to now being a manageable life-long condition.
As someone who was alive during the dark days of the HIV epidemic, this time of year often hits me hard. The moment I was diagnosed in 1996, I thought my life would be cut short and that’s what doctors told me. I also remember my dear friends who were lost to HIV – their lives taken from them far too soon.
But I also look to the future with confidence that we can be part of the generation that finally puts an end to this epidemic once and for all. It’s why I am so proud of Terrence Higgins Trust’s Zero HIV message for World AIDS Day. We want to see an end to new transmissions but also an end to HIV stigma.
Never could I have imagined the progress we’ve made in HIV and I imagine my 30-year-old self simply wouldn’t believe it.
But stories like this new sperm bank are a testament to the decades of activism that has sparked scientific innovation resulting in our medical understanding of HIV changing forever.
Our last fight against this epidemic doesn’t lie in laboratories, it lies in the hearts and minds of everyone to become more informed about HIV and to ditch outdated attitudes forever.
Every single one of us has a part to play in getting there – will you stand with us?
Ian Green is CEO of the Terrence Higgins Trust.