When we heard about this new campaign that’s radically changing HIV positive lives for the better, we knew we had to help spread the word. But its subversive message makes some people very uncomfortable, according to creator Bruce Richman. Words by Andrew Leavitt of ACT UP Dublin. Photo by Alina Oswald.

ACT UP – AIDS – Activism

People living with HIV who have access to treatment can expect to live normal, healthy lives. What is less well known is the fact that effective treatment also means they can’t pass on the virus to their sexual partners.

For Bruce Richman, founder and Executive Director of the relatively new Prevention Access Campaign (PAC), getting this message out to HIV positive people is vital.

“This information gives people hope, it gives them, the possibility of having lives that are not only healthier for them but are safe for their sexual partners. It changes what it means to live with HIV.”

This life change is something Richman experienced personally when he learned from his own doctor in 2012 that he couldn’t transmit HIV, two years after starting treatment and almost ten years after he’d been diagnosed.

“I couldn’t believe it!” he exclaims. “None of the sources I was going to for information were saying that I couldn’t transmit HIV; everything was still saying I was a risk. That’s when I realised there’s a problem in public health communications.”