Category: News | Page 20

Ending the epidemic for whom?

January 8, 2019 • By Winston Husbands

Ending the HIV epidemic in Canada in five years seems like an ambitious goal, but it is now in fact a target being advocated by a group of public health and HIV advocates in a new document published by the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR). I am one of the authors of that document, which acknowledges the necessity of addressing racism and structural violence. But, except for support from a couple co-authors, I am dispirited by the co-authors’ failure to be clear about the difference those systemic and structural issues make, to inspire determination in addressing them, and to...

Nothing for us, without us!

December 10, 2018 • By Kate Mason

Despite the fact that harm reduction services and ideas are always started by people who use drugs, they are not always included in the design and delivery of these programs as they become more formalized, especially in healthcare settings and for medical issues related to drug use.

Ensemble, faire de Montréal une ville sans sida

December 4, 2018 • By Pierre-Henri Minot

En énonçant les objectifs 90-90-90 en 2014, l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé et l’ONUSIDA proposaient une impulsion nouvelle : notre génération pourrait voir la fin de l’épidémie du sida. Nombreuses sont les voies possibles pour arriver à ce résultat, et les initiatives de riposte accélérée des Villes, les Fast Track Cities, en sont une. C’est à Paris le 1er décembre 2014 qu’est né ce modèle des Villes sans sida[1], issu d’un constat : les 200 villes les plus touchées abritent à elles seules plus du quart des 35 millions de personnes vivant avec le VIH. En s’impliquant dans la riposte au VIH,...

No more excuses: people have the right to know about U=U

October 31, 2018 • By John McCullagh

“The time for excuses is over. It’s very, very clear that the risk is zero. If you are on suppressive antiretroviral treatment you are sexually non-infectious” — Dr. Alison Rodger of University College London, lead author of PARTNER 2, presenting at the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, July 25, 2018. It’s difficult to overstate the power of this message for people with HIV, such as myself, because it changes what it means to live with HIV. It opens up social, sexual and reproductive choices we and our sexual partners never thought would be possible. It encourages those of us...

It’s time for Toronto to step up: Let’s become a UNAIDS Fast-Track City

October 23, 2018 • By Darien Taylor

The past few years have been a rollercoaster for those of us most impacted by HIV. The use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by people who are HIV-negative has gone from being discredited and shamed to become one of the keystones of a renewed and revitalized push to “end the HIV epidemic”. The other life-changing piece of research is the landmark PARTNER study that showed us, once and for all, that the sexual transmission of HIV does not occur in people whose viral loads are undetectable. The joyous global uptake of the U=U message has been nothing short of inspirational.

Five factors that help improve relationships between supervised injection services and local police

October 16, 2018 • By Tara Marie Watson and Carol Strike

Supervised injection services (SIS) provide safer spaces for people to inject drugs and help reduce the risk of overdose and behaviours linked to HIV and hepatitis C. Now more than ever, as Canada continues to experience an overdose crisis that took nearly 4,000 lives in 2017, people who use drugs need barrier-free access to these services. Policing practices – such as arresting people near harm reduction programs – can be major barriers to SIS attendance and operation. We recently completed a study focused on how to improve SIS-police relationships. For this research, we interviewed SIS managers, program coordinators and police...