Swiss Statement

rdf:langString Swiss Statement

rdf:langString The Swiss Statement (French: La déclaration suisse; known in German as das EKAF-Statement), or the Swiss Consensus Statement, was an announcement published in January 2008 by the Swiss Federal Commission for AIDS/HIV (EKAF, Eidgenössischen Kommission für Aids-Fragen) outlining the conditions under which an HIV-positive individual could be considered functionally noncontagious—namely, adherence to antiretroviral therapy, a sufficiently low viral load, and a lack of any other sexually transmitted diseases. While lacking the backing of complete, fully randomized clinical studies, the Commission felt the contemporary evidence for non-contagiousness for people on antiretroviral treatment was nonetheless strong enough to warrant official publication. The Statement generated significant controversy, with some defending it as based on adequate existing scientific evidence and as beneficial for people with HIV, and others maintaining that it was misleading and possibly encouraged risky sexual practices. In the years following its publication, further studies validated the Statement. The Statement now represents a medical consensus on the transmission of HIV.