You can live well with HIV.
New treatments make living with HIV manageable today. Most people living with HIV live long, healthy lives.
What does living with HIV mean today?
Today, people living with HIV who take effective treatment can have sexual relationships without fear of passing on the virus. A person living with HIV can become pregnant and have children who will not live with HIV. There are often few or no side effects. The key is to get tested and diagnosed – and to start treatment early.
One of the hardest parts of living with HIV is the ongoing stigma and discrimination, which can create barriers to healthcare, and affect a person’s self-esteem. This is changing over time as communities come together to end HIV stigma.
Is HIV still life-threatening?
Although there is no cure for HIV yet, effective treatments suppress, or lower, the level of the virus in your blood to the point where it can’t cause as much harm to the body, and it can’t be passed on to others through sex.
A person living with HIV can have the same life expectancy as someone not living with HIV. For example, there are many people living with HIV in Ontario who are now doing well in their 80s.
How can I support people who are living with HIV?
The health conditions we live with don’t change who we are. HIV is no different. The first step is to learn about it and what having it really means.
Supporting your loved ones and your community starts with taking charge of your own wellbeing. Take a test. There is power in knowing your HIV status and supporting others to do the same.
When it comes to today’s HIV treatments, they can be as simple as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – one pill per day or one long-acting injection. And there are often few or no side effects.