Category: Opinions | Page 11

Supervised injection in Toronto will improve the health of people who inject drugs

5 avril 2016 • Par Drs. Ahmed Bayoumi and Carol Strike

Over the past year, advocates or elected officials in Montreal, Ottawa, Victoria, Baltimore, New York City, Ithaca (NY), Seattle, San Francisco, Glasgow and four cities in Ireland have called for the implementation of supervised injection services. More recently, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. David McKeown recommended that the Board of Health start a community consultation process toward establishing supervised injection services within three existing facilities in the city. The Board voted unanimously in favour. As the lead investigators of the TOSCA study (the Toronto and Ottawa Supervised Consumption Assessment), we support Dr. McKeown’s proposal and look forward to the...

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We’re all mad here: It’s time to demand affordable Hep C treatment!

22 mars 2016 • Par Patricia Bacon

My daughter has a smartphone cover that says: “We’re all mad here”. It’s from Alice in Wonderland. I like it; and when it comes to hepatitis C treatment and pricing, it’s quite on point. In 2014, Canada and the rest of the world turned a miraculous corner – a cure for viral hepatitis C was on the market. Wonderful and amazing. Why? Well, viral hepatitis C is the only chronic viral infection that now has a cure – that is, a cure for virtually everyone, with a cure rate of 95 per cent.

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5 ways that PrEP highlights gender inequities in HIV

8 mars 2016 • Par San Patten

One of the most memorable moments in my 20 years working in the HIV field happened in a standing-room-only meeting hall in Vienna at the International AIDS Conference in 2010. This was the moment that the clinical trial CAPRISA 004 announced proof-of-concept for prevention of HIV among women using a vaginal microbicide (1% tenofivir gel). The entire room broke out in a standing ovation and tears of joy. Finally! A prevention tool that could allow a woman to protect herself in sexual encounters, regardless of the desires and wishes of her sexual partner. Five years later, microbicides have not yet...

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À quoi sert le barebacking?

19 janvier 2016 • Par admin

Par Gabriel Girard Apparu aux Etats-Unis il y a 20 ans, le barebacking a fait beaucoup parler de lui. Au départ, le terme a été utilisé par des hommes gais séropositifs pour évoquer leur choix d’avoir des pratiques sexuelles sans condom. Mais très vite, le barebacking devient l’enjeu de débats virulents sur la responsabilité et les prises de risque dans la communauté gaie. Mais parler de barebacking a-t-il encore un sens à l’heure du traitement comme prévention?

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Hep C: Solved with a Cure?

12 janvier 2016 • Par Daryl Luster

Hepatitis C is curable, reads the script; time and time again I hear this said, have read it, and say it myself. This is great news and a reality for more people than ever before. Does this mean that the job is done? I suppose it depends on one’s perspective. As I listened to members of the science research community speak recently, it is “done and dusted.” “Problem solved,” the headlines will read. Okay, maybe no headlines but a mention on page 4 with a minor piece in the late evening news, even though this may be the biggest news...

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HIV and infant feeding: A complex debate

4 janvier 2016 • Par Logan Kennedy

There is a quiet tension that exists surrounding HIV and infant feeding. Although practices and recommendations vary around the world, breastfeeding is not recommended for infants born to an HIV-positive woman or trans man in Canada. Instead, HIV-positive parents are counselled to feed their infants with formula. But I don’t think it is by any means a closed case, even in Canada. The truth is, the debate about HIV and infant feeding (particularly in Canada) has never been more complex. Like so many discussions related to HIV today, scientific advances are changing the way we talk about and consider possibilities....

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