Author: CATIE | Page 15

Five ideas to scale up hepatitis C services in Canada

February 18, 2020 • By Christopher Hoy

Hepatitis C is curable. Today’s treatment regimens are highly effective and easy to complete. And it has the added benefit of preventing transmission to others, making it possible to eliminate hepatitis C from Canada. However, for many of the most marginalized people affected by hepatitis C in Canada, including people who use drugs, treatment remains frustratingly out of reach. Those who are most at risk are also the ones most often missed by healthcare services.

“Connecting with Care” in Canada

February 5, 2020 • By Conor Ashleigh

In 2018, I had the opportunity to spend time in Iran profiling an innovative hepatitis C treatment project for people who use drugs. In partnership with Iranian and Australian researchers and local service providers, I interviewed a number of researchers, clinicians and patients to showcase their success at curing hepatitis C despite stigma and other barriers. As an Australian filmmaker, I have spent much of my working life telling stories of social change with communities throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Yet stories from Canada and North America had remained the most unknown to me.

Five ideas to improve drug user health in Canada

February 5, 2020 • By Christopher Hoy

Hepatitis C prevention, testing and treatment exists within the larger context of drug user health. This broader approach to hepatitis C must address the intersections of harm reduction, overdose prevention, the social determinants of health, and human rights. How can we better integrate these multiple perspectives to our work? To find out, we sat down to hear ideas from the world’s leading voices in hepatitis C at the 8th International Conference on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users (INHSU 2019) in Montreal.

Reaching the first 90: how HIV self-testing can help us end the HIV epidemic

November 11, 2019 • By Laurel Challacombe and Camille Arkell

Canada has signed on to the global 90-90-90 targets to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. The aim of these targets is to diagnose at least 90% of all people living with HIV, provide treatment for 90% of those diagnosed, and for 90% of people on treatment to have an undetectable viral load by 2020. However, Canada is falling short on the first 90, lagging behind other similar countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australia.

Can’t Pass It On: Rainer and Eka’s story

November 6, 2019 • By Rainer Oktovianus and Eka Nasution

CATIE recently launched its Can’t Pass It On campaign to increase awareness that people living with HIV on effective treatment can’t pass it on to a partner. The series features real serodifferent couples with one HIV-positive and one HIV-negative partner. CATIE sat down with one of these couples, Rainer Oktovianus and Eka Nasution, to learn more about their story and why they chose to participate in the campaign.

An “HIV status neutral” paradigm shift

November 4, 2019 • By Camille Arkell

HIV is not what it used to be. Many people with HIV describe it as a chronic condition and a manageable part of their life. HIV prevention is not what it used to be, either. The simultaneous rise of “undetectable equals untransmittable” (U=U) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) caused a radical change in the way we talk about HIV transmission and prevention.