CATIE Blog | Page 7 | HIV and hepatitis C news and opinions

Stigma and hepatitis C

May 4, 2023 • By Daphne Rose

Hepatitis C is often impacted by significant social stigma, affecting marginalized groups including people with lived experience of drug use and imprisonment, as well as Indigenous communities. Stigma arises when negative attitudes, beliefs and stereotypes are held by individuals or society towards a particular group. This leads to discrimination, marginalization, as well as negative social and health outcomes for stigmatized groups or individuals. People who use drugs and hepatitis C People who use drugs, particularly through injection, are at a higher risk of contracting hepatitis C through sharing needles and other drug use equipment. However, the stigma associated with drug...

What kind of effect does opioid use disorder medication have on opioid cravings?

April 25, 2023 • By Matthew Bonn

Buprenorphine with naloxone (also known as Suboxone) and methadone are two of the most widely used medications prescribed as opioid agonist therapy (OAT) to treat opioid use disorders in Canada. The aim of OAT is to replace the use of unregulated opioids with a safe and legal therapeutic medication that can prevent opioid cravings and withdrawal symptoms. This can in turn reduce the risk of overdose and other potential harms of opioid use disorder but it is not meant for everyone. In addition to these treatments, we also need greater access to safe supply, which is defined as a legal...

How peer advisory councils are improving access to harm reduction in communities across Manitoba

April 25, 2023 • By Shohan Illsley

CATIE spoke with Shohan Illsley, executive director of the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network, about the peer advisory councils they coordinate across the province, and how this model is helping improve access to harm reduction within rural and remote communities. What are peer advisory councils and how do they fit into the work of the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network? The Manitoba Harm Reduction Network is basically a network of networks. We have 11 networks in the province and nine of them work in rural and remote communities. Everywhere we have a network, we have a peer advisory council (PAC). PACs are...

Three important things to know about hepatitis C and HIV among people who inject drugs

April 25, 2023 • By Camille Arkell

In Canada, recent estimates show that people who inject drugs continue to be disproportionately affected by high rates of hepatitis C and HIV. They are also less likely to be tested, connected to care or receive treatment. To prevent hepatitis C and HIV, as well as improve outcomes for people who inject drugs, it is important to gain a better understanding of how changes in the drug supply and related trends impact vulnerability to these infections and how we can improve supports. To identify where these additional supports are most needed, the following three important points can help us to...

The Medicine Bundle: An Indigenous approach to HIV self-testing

February 15, 2023 • By Lane Bonertz

In April 2022, the Two-Spirit Program at Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC) launched the pilot of the Medicine Bundle, an HIV self-testing initiative in British Columbia created by and for Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Indigenous folks. The pilot emerged from nearly two years of consultation and engagement with Elders, activists, researchers and community members within the Two-Spirit community, who provided guidance on culturally sensitive and intentional ways to address disparities in access to HIV testing. Following its initial run in August 2022, the Medicine Bundle has now returned to once again serve Indigenous folks wishing to access HIV self-testing. This time around,...

The Northern, Remote and Isolated Indigenous Communities Initiative: Community-based testing from COVID-19 to HIV and STBBI

February 15, 2023 • By Adrienne Meyers and Paul Sandstrom

Access to HIV and STBBI testing Laboratory testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) can be inaccessible to certain populations such as northern, remote and isolated Indigenous (NRI) communities. This is due to several factors, such as: Decentralized, community-owned, community-based testing (CBT) and health services help address these factors and reduce historical health inequities faced by people living in NRI communities throughout Canada. Providing a variety of innovative testing options can be particularly useful for reaching the undiagnosed by offering greater accessibility, privacy and convenience, as well as by reducing the stigma associated with accessing conventional...