“A world without HIV is no longer inconceivable—it’s closer than ever.”

We are getting closer and closer to eradicating HIV, a sexually transmitted infection that has contributed to the deaths of at least 32 million people worldwide since the early 1980s. However, something that’s likely to surprise a lot of people is that scientists believe we may be able to eradicate HIV before we ever even find a cure for it. Yep, you read that right.

Confused? Check out the TED-Ed video below to learn more. This video not only describes how HIV affects the human body and why it has been notoriously difficult to cure, but it also explains how modern treatments that prevent the spread of HIV (namely, antiretrovirals for persons with the infection and PrEP for persons at risk of contracting the infection) are helping to dramatically lower transmission rates. With widespread use of these treatments over time, we may ultimately be able to eliminate HIV over the course of a few generations.