Some of us may be hearing Janet Conners’ name for the first time, but all of us in the HIV/AIDS community owe her a debt of gratitude for the remarkable contributions she made while on this earth.
Since January 1, 2018, eligible British Columbians have been able to receive HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) at no cost, but despite this coverage many still have restricted access to PrEP, especially people living in remote areas of the province. The barriers are many-fold and include persistent stigma, lack of access to healthcare providers and sexual health clinics, lack of awareness, individual discomfort accessing sexual healthcare and lack of transportation to pick up medication or to visit labs for ongoing testing.
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, there are a lot of people asking: what is the current state of abortion access in Canada? Could what’s happening in the U.S. happen here?
“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.
Saskatchewan Infectious Disease Care Network (SIDCN) is a non-profit organization created and directed by HIV and hepatitis C physician specialists. In addition to providing HIV and hepatitis C patient care and research projects, SIDCN administered a four-year continuing medical education program known as the HIV/HCV Primary Care Capacity Improvement Project. This project was funded using two consecutive two-year harm reduction fund grants from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
At PASAN, we serve people with lived and living experience of incarceration and drug use. Many of our clients have been diagnosed with hepatitis C during their intake at a correctional institution. M
