Category: How To | CATIE Blog

Serving PrEP realness: How Priss Cryption is using drag to power HIV prevention

November 11, 2025 • By Priss Cryption

As a pharmacist, pharmacy professor and researcher who also happens to be a drag queen, I’ve learned something vital from both the clinic and the club: people listen – and learn – when they feel seen. Through my drag persona Priss Cryption, I’m building programs that meet communities where they already gather, bringing HIV pre‑exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and emerging STI prevention tools like doxycycline post‑exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) to stages, bars, classrooms and social feeds. It’s glitter with a purpose. The need is urgent. Canada reported 2,434 new HIV diagnoses in 2023, a 35% increase from 2022, reminding us that progress...

In case of emergency: Expanding safe supply through supervised consumption services

August 8, 2024 • By Sandra Ka Hon Chu and Corey Ranger

Since 2016, 42,494 people have died from drug poisoning in Canada. This crisis is fueled by an unregulated drug supply contaminated with a deadly mix of synthetic opioids and non-opioid sedatives. Aiming to curb these drug poisoning deaths, the provision of pharmaceutical-grade alternatives to the unregulated, illegal drug supply, also known as safe supply, has demonstrated significant promise. However, despite its potential to save lives, this approach is currently mired in capacity constraints and accessibility barriers. One opportunity for increasing access to safe supply is through supervised consumption services (SCS). In a new report produced by the HIV Legal Network,...

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...

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...

Spotting and the Good Samaritan Act: Implications and considerations

August 12, 2022 • By Melissa Perri and Nat Kaminski

“Good Samaritan” laws aim to protect people who witness, act on or experience a substance-use-related overdose from being arrested or criminally charged. This type of legislation has been implemented across Canada and the United States as a response to the increase in fatal drug poisonings, but it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Reaching out to immigrant communities during the pandemic and beyond

July 5, 2022 • By Fozia Tanveer

For more than a decade, the program’s two-pronged community development and social marketing strategy had demonstrated success in reaching these diverse communities across Ontario. However, in early 2020, we were forced back to the drawing board.