In the early days of HIV and AIDS, a positive diagnosis was a death sentence. During the helm of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, on average, a patient died within 15 months of diagnosis.
Today, new antiretroviral therapies (ART) can make a HIV positive person's viral load undetectable, meaning that someone who is HIV positive cannot pass the infection to others. Advocates use the common term U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable). These medications allow HIV survivors to live long, fulfilling lives, but those who have aged with the virus still struggle with the burden of loss and learning how to live for a future they were previously denied.
In this segment, we talk to Tez Anderson, a long-term survivor of HIV, activist and founder of the first and largest group in the world focused on long-term HIV survivors and older adults aging with HIV, Let's Kick ASS (Aids Survivor Syndrome).
