![HIV Care Continuum is a model that outlines the sequential steps or stages of HIV medical care that people living with HIV go through from initial diagnosis to achieving the goal of viral suppression](/sites/default/files/HIV_care_continuum_800.png)
When HIV is suppressed, or controlled by medications and other care, people are protected from HIV-related illnesses, and are much less likely to pass the virus to their sexual partners or unborn children. Another word for "viral suppression" is "undetectable" meaning the levels of HIV in a person's blood (viral load) are so low that the laboratory test cannot measure them.