The WRI 2018 focused on the messages and campaigns around Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U), specifically contextualizing what it means for women. While the message of U=U is being broadly accepted and adopted by agencies, organizations and authorities around the world, we sought to address issues specific to women. These issues are varied and intrinsically related to the complex dynamics of women’s lives, including relationships, sexuality, poverty/access to treatment, attention to health and well-being, stigma and more.
The WRI 2018 featured presentations by experts examining potential opportunities and challenges of U=U for women, using a cross-disciplinary approach. The meeting reviewed the science and evidence behind U=U and delved into current efforts to disseminate these messages, identifying successes and continuing challenges. The group was focused on what U=U means for women, from the biology of breastfeeding to power dynamics in women’s relationships. The WRI 2018 highlighted the role of U=U in battling stigma and discussed important considerations related to U=U, including the impact on women who inject drugs or whose partners do so, as well as the role and impact of policy efforts on U=U. The meeting also focused on how the WRI can ensure that women are included in messaging around U=U and how to address what may be particularly nuanced messages on the topic.
View photos from the 2018 WRI meeting on our Facebook page
Key Questions
Meeting participants were asked to address a number of critical questions throughout the course of the meeting:
- What does U=U mean for women?
- What gaps exist in our knowledge of how U=U impacts women?
- Are women receiving the U=U message? If so, from whom and in what ways?
- How do relationship power dynamics affect U=U and how can we best advise women to make their own informed choices?
- What considerations around U=U need to be addressed when reaching out specifically to women?
- What can each of us personally do in our work environment to advance the ideas generated at this WRI meeting?
2018 WRI meeting participants
| Erika Aaron, MSN Philadelphia Department of Health |
Ada Adimora, MD UNC School of Medicine |
| Shannon Allen, PhD American Association for the Advancement of Science |
Judith D. Auerbach, PhD* University of California San Francisco |
| Dawn Averitt* Women's Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS |
Jared Baeten, MD, PhD University of Washington |
| John Brooks, MD Centers for Disease Control |
Gina Brown, MD* |
| Gina Brown, MSW Southern AIDS Coalition |
Jenna Conley* Women's Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS |
| Elizabeth Connick, MD University of Arizona |
Susan Cu-Uvin, MD Brown University |
| Antigone Dempsey HRSA/HAB |
Dazon Dixon Diallo, DHL, MPH SisterLove, Inc. |
| Karine Dube, DrPh UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health |
Lisa Fitzpatrick, MD, MPH, MPA* PPH, Inc. |
| Carrie Foote, PhD HIV Modernization Movement - Indiana IUPUI Sociology |
Rowena Johnston, PhD amfAR |
| Jennifer Kates, PhD* Kaiser Family Foundation |
Naina Khanna PWN-USA |
| Melissa Koomey Gilead Sciences |
Carmen Logie, PhD University of Toronto |
| Edward Machtinger, MD University of California San Francisco |
Krista Martel* The Well Project |
| Bruce Richman Prevention Access Campaign/U=U |
Jessica Salzwedel AVAC |
| Lena Serghides, PhD University Health Network |
Adam Shprecher, PharmD Janssen |
| Kathleen Squires, MD Merck & Co Inc. |
Vani Vannappagari, PhD, MPH, MBBS ViiV Healthcare |
| Fulvia Veronese, PhD DAIDS, NIAID, NIH |
Celeste Watkins-Hayes, PhD Northwestern University |
| Shannon Weber, MSW UCSF/HIVE, Please PrEPMe.org |
Andrea Weddle, MSW HIV Medicine Association |
| Charles Wira, PhD* Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth |
Carmen Zorrilla, MD UPR School of Medicine |
*2018 Advisory Board Member
