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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La déclaration de Santé Canada sur le statut de la naloxone est un changement judicieux dans le paradigme des politiques sur les drogues

 4 mars 2016 •  Par Dre Lynne Leonard 

The administration of naloxone, a chemical compound that effectively temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, is recommended by the World Health Organization to be used in the case of an opioid overdose. Naloxone is currently available in Canada only in an injectable form and by prescription only; it can only be administered to the person named on the prescription, not to a third party.

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Queer women are ignored in HIV research: this is a problem and here is why it matters

 23 février 2016 •  Par Carmen Logie

Lesbian, bisexual and queer women are rarely included in HIV research. Women who have sex with women, and their HIV infection rates, are not captured anywhere because women cannot report having a woman as a sexual partner in Canada’s HIV statistics. The current record only allows women to report HIV exposure either through injection drug use or heterosexual sex. This contributes to the erasure of women’s sexual and gender diversity and fluidity in HIV research. Queer* women are ignored in HIV research: this is a problem and here is why it matters.

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Making the most of a new HIV testing technology

 9 février 2016 •  Par Mark Gilbert

There are a lot of new test technologies in the pipeline: both new types of tests in the works, such as rapid syphilis tests or point-of-care HIV viral load testing, and new ways to use existing tests, such as self-testing or online testing. As testing options increase, we need to think about where they will have the most impact. I learned about this from helping implement a new test technology called pooled nucleic acid amplification testing (pooled NAAT) at six clinics in Vancouver in 2009, as part of a research study to determine the impact of this new type of...

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À quoi sert le barebacking?

 19 janvier 2016 Par Author •  Par

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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