Arrivons-nous à la fin du développement de médicaments contre le VHC?

 18 août 2017 •  Par Sean Hosein

Au cours des sept dernières années, nous avons assisté à une mise au point étourdissante de médicaments contre le virus de l’hépatite C (VHC). Chaque nouveau traitement s’est généralement révélé plus efficace que le précédent. Les plus récents traitements approuvés pour le VHC au Canada cette semaine incluent Maviret (fabriquée par AbbVie) et Vosevi (fabriqué par Gilead). Lors des essais cliniques, ces traitements offerts sous forme de comprimé ont donné lieu à des taux élevés de guérison (habituellement supérieurs à 95 pour cent) et ont causé peu d’effets secondaires graves. Même s’il s’écoulera encore six mois ou plus avant que ces...

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World Hepatitis Day: Finally something to celebrate?

 28 juillet 2017 •  Par Annika Ollner

Every year on July 28, we mark World Hepatitis Day with an event to educate, gather together, and also remember those we have lost from the hepatitis C community. This year, we should have much to celebrate: in early 2017, medications that had previously been unavailable were finally added to some formularies, including Ontario’s. This  means that people with certain types of hepatitis C who have been waiting years to access safe, effective medication will finally be able to start treatment and be cured. For many, being cured means avoiding potentially fatal outcomes like liver failure and liver cancer. It...

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Hepatitis C cascade of care: An essential tool for monitoring progress towards HCV elimination

 28 juillet 2017 •  Par Dr. Naveed Z Janjua

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem. Worldwide, about 70 million people are living with hepatitis C virus infection, with a higher prevalence in developing countries. In Canada, 210,753 to 461,517 people are infected with HCV, and an estimated 20 to 40 per cent of infections remain undiagnosed. Those born during the period of 1945 until 1965 have the highest rates of infection and, having acquired the virus decades ago, are now increasingly being diagnosed with serious liver-related illnesses, including liver failure and liver cancer and non-liver related illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney...

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U=U and the overly-broad criminalization of HIV nondisclosure

 6 juin 2017 •  Par Nicholas Caivano and Sandra Ka Hon Chu

People living with HIV in Canada have been charged with some of the most serious offences in the Criminal Code, even in cases of consensual sex where there was negligible or no risk of HIV transmission, no actual transmission and no intent to transmit. The Undetectable=Untransmittable (“U=U”) campaign is based on scientific research, including the ground-breaking PARTNER study, establishing that when a person living with HIV on treatment maintains an undetectable viral load for at least six months, the risk of transmitting the virus through sex is effectively non-existent. As advocates for persons living with HIV await action from federal,...

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6 things you can do to show solidarity with people who use drugs and help end the opioid crisis

 26 mai 2017 Par Author •  Par

By Zoë Dodd & Alexander McClelland At the opening of the recent 25th Harm Reduction International Conference in Montreal, the Minister of Health Jane Philpott announced that more people have died in the overdose epidemic in the past few years than died during the height of the AIDS crisis in the late 80s and early 90s. In 2016, it is estimated that 2,300 people died of overdose—preventable deaths caused by the prohibition of drugs. In response to that sobering and sad announcement, we wrote an article asking for people engaged in the response to HIV to show support and solidarity...

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Conversations That Matter – Sex Workers and PrEP at CAHR 2017

 16 mai 2017 •  Par Andrew Sorfleet

The possible unintended consequences of the introduction of PrEP to the sex industry is something that has been discussed in international sex work advocacy since at least 2012. So, when I saw that new PrEP prescription guidelines for Canada were being drafted, stating that “sex-trade workers” were a “significant risk of having transmissible HIV,” I was troubled that there had been no community consultation whatsoever. National guidelines required a national convening.

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