Category: Opinions | Page 8

World Hepatitis Day: Finally something to celebrate?

July 28, 2017 • By Annika Ollner

Every year on July 28, we mark World Hepatitis Day with an event to educate, gather together, and also remember those we have lost from the hepatitis C community. This year, we should have much to celebrate: in early 2017, medications that had previously been unavailable were finally added to some formularies, including Ontario’s. This means that people with certain types of hepatitis C who have been waiting years to access safe, effective medication will finally be able to start treatment and be cured. For many, being cured means avoiding potentially fatal outcomes like liver failure and liver cancer. It...

U=U and the overly-broad criminalization of HIV nondisclosure

June 6, 2017 • By Nicholas Caivano and Sandra Ka Hon Chu

People living with HIV in Canada have been charged with some of the most serious offences in the Criminal Code, even in cases of consensual sex where there was negligible or no risk of HIV transmission, no actual transmission and no intent to transmit. The Undetectable=Untransmittable (“U=U”) campaign is based on scientific research, including the ground-breaking PARTNER study, establishing that when a person living with HIV on treatment maintains an undetectable viral load for at least six months, the risk of transmitting the virus through sex is effectively non-existent. As advocates for persons living with HIV await action from federal,...

6 things you can do to show solidarity with people who use drugs and help end the opioid crisis

May 26, 2017 • By CATIE

By Zoë Dodd & Alexander McClelland At the opening of the recent 25th Harm Reduction International Conference in Montreal, the Minister of Health Jane Philpott announced that more people have died in the overdose epidemic in the past few years than died during the height of the AIDS crisis in the late 80s and early 90s. In 2016, it is estimated that 2,300 people died of overdose—preventable deaths caused by the prohibition of drugs. In response to that sobering and sad announcement, we wrote an article asking for people engaged in the response to HIV to show support and solidarity...

Shame Canada: Canadian Task Force ignores expert advice in new hepatitis C screening guidelines

April 28, 2017 • By Jennifer van Gennip

The Canadian Task Force on Preventative Health Care (CTFPHC) released its HCV Screening Guidelines today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday. To the dismay of experts across Canada including hepatitis C specialists, advocacy groups, and stakeholders, the new screening guidelines ignore expert advice regarding who should be tested for Hep C, setting a dangerous public health policy where dollars come first and the health of Canadians comes last.

Does price dictate HCV drug policy?

April 18, 2017 • By Amanda Fletcher

Early this year, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Ontario announced the lowering of eligibility requirements for access to public coverage for life-changing hepatitis C drugs, including Epclusa, Zepatier, daclatasvir and asunaprevir. These drugs will be available to those with lower fibrosis scores for the first time (the greater the fibrosis score, the more severe the liver scarring, or cirrhosis, caused by disease.)[i]

Women + PrEP: 5 Important Facts

February 28, 2017 • By Molly Bannerman

The emergence of PrEP has highlighted important gender inequalities in HIV transmission and HIV prevention. PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a drug that HIV-negative people (including women!) can take to help prevent HIV; however, most discussions about PrEP focus on men. Despite representing fewer new HIV infections than men, women also need innovative HIV prevention methods.