Does ART really work?

Yes. Amazingly well.

It reduces the amount of HIV in your body. Ideally to become undetectable.
It reduces the risk of HIV health problems.
Your immune system can then become stronger.
It can protects partners during sex, even without condoms.
It protects babies during pregnancy and when breastfeeding or chest feeding.

Globally, more than 29 million people are now on ART.

ART works for adults and children, for women and men. It works for transgender and cisgender people.

It works no matter how you were infected, whether this was sexually, through drug use, at birth, or by blood products.

This just involves taking ART at the roughly the right time and in the right way.

I was caught just in time, in 1996, when the first effective combinations became available. I did not think that it would make a difference. Now that I understand how the drugs work, I know that they are active, whether I believe in them or not.

Now that ART also protects my partner. I like that this helps to feel normal.

Ask questions about anything you don’t understand. You can then take responsibility for whatever you decide.

Look at treatment as something you have to be really committed to for the next few years. Take this new aspect of your life more seriously than anything else until you get it right.

— Simon, London

Last updated: 1 November 2024.