HIV is not what it used to be. Many people with HIV describe it as a chronic condition and a manageable part of their life. HIV prevention is not what it used to be, either. The simultaneous rise of “undetectable equals untransmittable” (U=U) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) caused a radical change in the way we talk about HIV transmission and prevention.
Poverty, stigma and criminalization are chronic problems among people who use and inject drugs. But hepatitis C virus (HCV) is no longer such a problem, since it is usually cured by eight to 12 weeks of oral, direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Delivering DAAs to people who use and inject drugs in the context of the chronic problems facing them is an opportunity to recognize and support the contribution of people with lived experience, and to build and strengthen systems and programs.
Pharmacists are drug therapy experts. We are responsible for ensuring medications are used safely, responsibly and effectively to maximize the benefits of treatment. This is especially true in the provision of care to people living with HIV. But community pharmacists are often seen as separate from the HIV care team. We are largely left out of therapeutic decision-making, despite our central role in dispensing medications. But community pharmacists have demonstrated that we can play a vital role in HIV care.
This blog post is a follow-up from an earlier post published on August 27, 2019 about the Blueprint to Inform Hepatitis C Elimination Efforts in Canada.
An introduction by Dr. Jordan Feld, University Health Network Nearly 250,000 Canadians are living with hepatitis C (HCV), yet 45% are undiagnosed and remain at risk of developing complications related to long-term liver damage like liver cancer. Hepatitis C causes more years of life lost than any other infectious disease in Canada. Fortunately, with the arrival of safe treatment that cures more than 95% of people, combined with simple diagnostic methods and effective prevention strategies, we now have the tools to eliminate hepatitis C.
This blog post is a follow-up from an earlier post published on July 11, 2019. As I work on a new funding proposal, this statement strikes me: over 11,500 people in Canada have lost their lives as a result of opioid-related overdoses between January 2016 and December 2018 and we keep losing people every day. So many lives lost! And why is that? The evidence is clear that overdose prevention sites save lives! After I returned from a hands-on training in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, one of the hardest hit places in the overdose crisis, it became even...
