Why am I hearing less and less about a ‘functional cure’? 

The term ‘functional cure’ was coined by policymakers in 2014 to give suppression of HIV without medication an optimistic tone. It has since become clear that people living with HIV find this a confusing and misleading term, because a cure implies you no longer have HIV. With a ‘functional cure’, HIV is still present in your body.
 
That’s why this term is being used less and less. The term ‘suppressing HIV without the need for treatment’ is now used instead.