Category: Articles | Page 7

How peer advisory councils are improving access to harm reduction in communities across Manitoba

April 25, 2023 • By Shohan Illsley

CATIE spoke with Shohan Illsley, executive director of the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network, about the peer advisory councils they coordinate across the province, and how this model is helping improve access to harm reduction within rural and remote communities. What are peer advisory councils and how do they fit into the work of the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network? The Manitoba Harm Reduction Network is basically a network of networks. We have 11 networks in the province and nine of them work in rural and remote communities. Everywhere we have a network, we have a peer advisory council (PAC). PACs are...

Three important things to know about hepatitis C and HIV among people who inject drugs

April 25, 2023 • By Camille Arkell

In Canada, recent estimates show that people who inject drugs continue to be disproportionately affected by high rates of hepatitis C and HIV. They are also less likely to be tested, connected to care or receive treatment. To prevent hepatitis C and HIV, as well as improve outcomes for people who inject drugs, it is important to gain a better understanding of how changes in the drug supply and related trends impact vulnerability to these infections and how we can improve supports. To identify where these additional supports are most needed, the following three important points can help us to...

Five key recommendations to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women living with HIV

February 13, 2023 • By Zoe Osborne, Valerie Nicholson and Angela Kaida

Love Positive Women is an international movement that invites us to celebrate women living with HIV around the globe. This annual event is an opportunity to engage in acts of caring for the women living with HIV in our community, both in private acts and in pushing for systems change. In Canada, women make up approximately 25% of all people living with HIV. Despite this, women’s voices, priorities, and distinct needs have been underrepresented in the national conversation about HIV. Particularly in the space of sexual and reproductive health and rights, there are few initiatives that focus specifically on women...

A conversation between Dr. Theresa Tam and Bruce Richman

January 12, 2023 • By Dr. Theresa Tam and Bruce Richman

Thanks to advances in HIV science over the last four decades, people living with HIV who are on medication and maintain an undetectable amount of virus in their blood can lead long, healthy lives without the fear of passing HIV to their sexual partners. This is the powerful message behind “Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U).” People living with HIV, alongside leaders in the community, have worked tirelessly to share the U=U message and have made significant progress since 2016. This life-changing science has transformed what it means to live and love with HIV globally. Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health...

INHSU 2022: Canada’s place in the global landscape of the health of people who use drugs and hepatitis C elimination

December 21, 2022 • By Rivka Kushner and Brooke Nolan

The International Network on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users (INHSU) hosted its first hybrid virtual and in-person conference in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 19 to 21, 2022. INHSU brings together healthcare and social service providers, researchers, people with lived and living experience, advocates, policy-makers and community leaders to discuss emerging issues, innovative programs, new research and approaches to supporting the health of people who use drugs around the world. Main conference themes included reducing harms and improving the health of people who use drugs, as well as assessing progress and possibilities related to achieving the elimination of hepatitis C...

Listening to communities: Lessons from the HIV/AIDS and monkeypox epidemics

November 9, 2022 • By Malika Sharma

Just over 40 years ago, clinicians recognized a rare form of pneumonia in a handful of otherwise healthy young men in Los Angeles. This cluster would soon become known as the “start” of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2022, clinicians in sexual health clinics in Montreal reported the first cases of monkeypox in Canada. In both instances, however, affected communities were the first to know that something was up. In the years before HIV was identified, people who inject drugs talked of “junkie pneumonia” or “the dwindles”. Later, these were identified as AIDS-related complications. Early in our current global monkeypox outbreak, members...