What is TasP and how does it work?

posted on July 23, 2019

A new fact sheet explains the made-in-BC Treatment as Prevention strategy and how it works.

Here are some quick facts about the TasP strategy:

Access to early HIV testing and immediate treatment improves quality of life for people living with HIV and curbs transmission. Pioneered at the BC-CfE by Dr. Julio Montaner, Treatment as Prevention, or TasP, is a proven effective strategy for controlling the HIV and AIDS epidemic.

TasP is based on the concept that early access to HIV testing and immediate, sustained access to universal HIV treatment improves quality of life and longevity for people living with HIV, while curbing HIV transmission. On consistent and sustained treatment, an individual living with HIV can achieve an undetectable viral load, at which point they cannot transmit the virus.

TasP saves lives and money, according to research from the BC-CfE. BC is the only Canadian province to implement TasP and the only one to see a consistent decline in new HIV cases. A number of jurisdictions worldwide have adopted the made-in-BC TasP® strategy to address their HIV/AIDS epidemics including: France, Spain, Brazil, Panama, China and several cities in the United States (San Francisco and Washington, DC).

The TasP was pioneered by BC-CfE, and supported by UNAIDS since 2011. The strategy inspired an ambitious global target for HIV treatment. The UNAIDS 90-90-90 Target to end AIDS as a pandemic by 2030 is a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. To end AIDS, by 2020, 90% of people of people living with HIV must be diagnosed, 90% of people of those diagnosed must be on treatment and 90% of those on treatment must have an undetectable viral load.

TasP forms the foundation of the Undetectable equals Untransmittable (U=U) movement. Dr. Julio Montaner, BC-CfE Executive Director and Physician-in-Chief, was one of the first endorsers of the campaign to remove stigma for individuals living with HIV. U=U signifies people with HIV who have achieved and maintained an undetectable viral load through consistent antiretroviral treatment cannot transmit the virus to others.

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Treatment as Prevention®

BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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What is TasP and how does it work?

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