Category: Articles | Page 24

Hepatitis C cascade of care: An essential tool for monitoring progress towards HCV elimination

28 juillet 2017 • Par Dr. Naveed Z Janjua

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem. Worldwide, about 70 million people are living with hepatitis C virus infection, with a higher prevalence in developing countries. In Canada, 210,753 to 461,517 people are infected with HCV, and an estimated 20 to 40 per cent of infections remain undiagnosed. Those born during the period of 1945 until 1965 have the highest rates of infection and, having acquired the virus decades ago, are now increasingly being diagnosed with serious liver-related illnesses, including liver failure and liver cancer and non-liver related illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney...

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

6 juin 2017 • Par 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,...

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

26 mai 2017 • Par 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...

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Conversations That Matter – Sex Workers and PrEP at CAHR 2017

16 mai 2017 • Par Andrew Sorfleet

The possible unintended consequences of the introduction of PrEP to the sex industry is something that has been discussed in international sex work advocacy since at least 2012. So, when I saw that new PrEP prescription guidelines for Canada were being drafted, stating that “sex-trade workers” were a “significant risk of having transmissible HIV,” I was troubled that there had been no community consultation whatsoever. National guidelines required a national convening.

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Honte au Canada : Le Groupe d’étude canadien fait fi des conseils d’experts dans ses nouvelles lignes directrices sur le dépistage de l’hépatite C

1 mai 2017 • Par Jennifer van Gennip

Le Groupe d’étude canadien sur les soins de santé préventifs (GECSSP) a publié lundi ses Lignes directrices sur le dépistage du VHC dans le Journal de l’Association médicale canadienne (résumé disponible en français). À la consternation des experts partout au Canada, y compris des spécialistes de l’hépatite C, des groupes de défense des droits et d’autres intervenants, les nouvelles recommandations sur le dépistage ignorent les conseils d’experts en ce qui concerne le choix des candidats au dépistage de l’hépatite C, ce qui établit un précédent dangereux pour les politiques de santé publique, où les dollars ont préséance sur la santé...

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Les prix dictent-ils les politiques relatives aux médicaments contre l’hépatite C?

18 avril 2017 • Par Amanda Fletcher

Plus tôt cette année, la Colombie-Britannique, l’Alberta, la Saskatchewan, le Québec et l’Ontario ont annoncé un assouplissement des critères d’admissibilité à une couverture publique pour les médicaments anti-hépatite C qui sont en train de changer la vie des personnes atteintes, y compris Epclusa, Zepatier, daclatasvir et asunaprévir. Pour la première fois, ces médicaments seront accessibles aux personnes ayant des scores de fibrose plus bas (plus le score de fibrose est élevé, plus il y a de cicatrices dans le foie causées par la maladie, c’est-à-dire la cirrhose.)[i]

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