HIV is no longer a death sentence. But decades-old stigma persists. - NBC News

He was tested earlier that year, and had recently been in what he thought was a monogamous relationship with a man he was in love with, so he wasn’t worried about the results.

Advocates want to see better health education in schools, better access to health care and, ultimately, an end to the epidemic.

But the doctor told her that if Moore took one pill every day for the rest of his life, he could live to 90 or 100 years old.

Misinformation and stigma persist in part because of poor sex education across the country, said J.

Maurice McCants-Pearsall, director of HIV and health equity at Human Rights Campaign. .

“And then we have to ask the question, well, why is that?” McCants-Pearsall said.

“Well, there's a direct correlation with a lack of sexual health education and HIV in young folks between the ages of 13 and 24.

He said HIV’s impact on Black and brown people is also due to social determinants of health, which he said aren’t being addressed for communities of color.

McCants-Pearsall said 11 states have laws that make it a felony to spit or bite someone if you have HIV, “even though we know the science tells us that it is not possible to transmit HIV through saliva.”.

Twenty-five states also criminalize one or more behaviors that pose low risks for HIV transmission, he said.

The penalties for violating these laws can include prison time: 18 impose sentences of up to 10 years, seven states impose sentences of 11 to 20 years, and five states impose a sentence of 20 years “and this is not based off of behavior motivated by intent to harm,” McCants-Pearsall said. .

“And I did that regimen eight hours every day around the clock on an empty stomach for three years, which was 4,000 plus doses without missing a single one,” he said.

In the ‘80s and the ‘90s, he said, he never thought it would get to this point, when one pill a day can make HIV undetectable

Treatments have improved, but Moore said HIV has been around for 40 years, and there’s no cure or vaccine

Among the most common is that HIV is a death sentence, and it is not, McCants-Pearsall said