Dawn Averitt

As ID professionals, we all are familiar with the concept of HIV treatment as prevention, or TasP. The science establishing TasP as an effective medical and public health strategy was established by HPTN 052, a randomized clinical trial involving 1,763 serodiscordant couples from nine different countries, which showed a 93% reduction in transmission risk in couples in which the infected partner was assigned to early ART. The implications of this finding were so significant that in 2011, Science highlighted the study as its “Breakthrough of the Year.” Collectively, results from HPTN 052 and several other landmark studies have validated that people living with HIV who have maximally suppressed virus on ART do not sexually transmit HIV to their partners. But surprisingly, this information has not been conveyed to the affected community in a meaningful way that would allow them to share its benefits.