To end the HIV epidemic in Canada, it is important for people who are HIV-positive to know their status and to be linked to care. To do that, we have to reach people who are not testing now and make the process easier for them.
Canada has signed on to the global 90-90-90 targets to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. The aim of these targets is to diagnose at least 90% of all people living with HIV, provide treatment for 90% of those diagnosed, and for 90% of people on treatment to have an undetectable viral load by 2020. However, Canada is falling short on the first 90, lagging behind other similar countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australia.
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.
Editor’s note, January 2022: Some of the approaches and technologies highlighted here are still only available in some regions of Canada. Additionally, HIV self-testing/home-based testing has now been approved for use in Canada. Canada has signed on to global targets to eliminate HIV and hepatitis C as public health threats by 2030. While ambitious, these targets are now a realistic possibility thanks to the effectiveness of modern medications. HIV treatment can suppress the virus so successfully that HIV-positive Canadians who start treatment early can have life expectancies similar to their HIV-negative peers. This also prevents the transmission of HIV to...
En énonçant les objectifs 90-90-90 en 2014, l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé et l’ONUSIDA proposaient une impulsion nouvelle : notre génération pourrait voir la fin de l’épidémie du sida. Nombreuses sont les voies possibles pour arriver à ce résultat, et les initiatives de riposte accélérée des Villes, les Fast Track Cities, en sont une. C’est à Paris le 1er décembre 2014 qu’est né ce modèle des Villes sans sida[1], issu d’un constat : les 200 villes les plus touchées abritent à elles seules plus du quart des 35 millions de personnes vivant avec le VIH. En s’impliquant dans la riposte au VIH,...
The past few years have been a rollercoaster for those of us most impacted by HIV. The use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by people who are HIV-negative has gone from being discredited and shamed to become one of the keystones of a renewed and revitalized push to “end the HIV epidemic”. The other life-changing piece of research is the landmark PARTNER study that showed us, once and for all, that the sexual transmission of HIV does not occur in people whose viral loads are undetectable. The joyous global uptake of the U=U message has been nothing short of inspirational.
