HIV Treatment Works

Encouraging People Living with HIV to Get in Care. Stay in Care. and Live Well.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently launched the latest communication campaign under its Act Against AIDS initiative – HIV Treatment Works. This new national HIV prevention campaign seeks to encourage people living with HIV to get in care, start taking HIV medications, remain in care, and adhere to treatment.

HIV Treatment Works features people from across the United States who are living with HIV talking about how sticking to treatment helps them stay healthy, protect others, do what they love, and live a longer, healthier life. This campaign also focuses on how individuals have had to overcome barriers to get in care and stay on treatment.

HIV Treatment Works provides access to information and resources to help increase the proportion of people living with HIV who enter and remain in care. Ensuring that all those living with HIV are successfully treated, which means getting and staying in care, is critical to improve their overall health and reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their partners. The comprehensive campaign website includes information and resources to help people living with HIV adhere to treatment and maintain good health by finding:

• an HIV care provider,
• a local HIV support group, and
• a mental health provider.

Malina manages her HIV by taking her medications so that she can devote all her time and energy to her son.

HIV Care and Treatment by the Numbers

According to CDC data, of the 51 percent of people living with HIV who have remained in care, 89 percent were prescribed antiretroviral therapy (ART), of whom 77 percent had viral suppression meaning the level of HIV in their bodies was low enough to stay healthy and dramatically reduce the chance of transmitting HIV to others. Yet, only approximately one in four people living with HIV currently have their virus under control.¹ Treatment helps people with HIV live longer and healthier lives and prevents the spread of HIV to others. This campaign supports the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and the White House's Continuum of Care Initiative which seek to identify people who are living with HIV, link them to care, and ultimately to increase the proportion of people with a suppressed viral load.²

Help Spread the Word about HIV Treatment Works

You can support the campaign and help us encourage people living with HIV to Get in care, Stay in care, and Live well.

• Visit the HIV Treatment Works campaign website for information and resources about the benefits of getting in care and staying on treatment for people living with HIV and stories of how people overcame barriers to care and treatment.
• View the HIV Treatment Works campaign PSA and digital stories of people living with HIV.
• Like the Act Against AIDS Facebook Page, share or respond to our posts, and direct your followers to check out our page and our website.
• Chat with us on Twitter, spread the word about the campaign through Twitter by using the campaign hashtag #HIVTreatmentWorks and by following our account @TalkHIV.
• Incorporate HIV Treatment Works into community events and educational presentations, underscoring the importance of care and treatment for people living with HIV.

For inquiries about HIV Treatment Works, email ActAgainstAIDS@cdc.gov.

HIV Treatment Works is part of Act Against AIDS (AAA), CDC's national communication initiative to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the United States. The initiative includes multiple campaigns for different audiences as well as tools and information for health care providers regarding HIV testing, prevention, and treatment. Through the Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative (AAALI), this effort also fosters partnerships between CDC and some of the nation's leading organizations representing the populations hardest hit by HIV and AIDS. Visit HIVTreatmentWorks to learn more. To request campaign materials or additional information, contact ActAgainstAIDS@cdc.gov.