Tag: Prevention | CATIE Blog

Doxy-PEP for syphilis prevention: What is it, does it work and how can we overcome barriers to access?

February 13, 2024 • By Brook Biggin

For years, gay, bisexual, trans, Two-Spirit and queer (GBT2Q) communities have been experiencing unacceptably high rates of syphilis with limited action taken by others outside the work of community-based sexual health organizations. However, provincial and federal responses have been stoked due to an increase in heterosexual transmission and a rise in cases of babies born with syphilis, also known as congenital syphilis. When acquired by a fetus during pregnancy, syphilis can result in miscarriage, stillbirth or permanent disability of the newborn. Consequently, efforts to leverage innovative syphilis interventions have accelerated, alongside interest in new prevention options for GBT2Q men. One...

Three reasons why CATIE supports U=U for sexual transmission

January 24, 2017 • By Camille Arkell

CATIE recently endorsed the Consensus Statement of the Prevention Access Campaign, celebrating the fact that “undetectable equals untransmittable.” This revolutionary statement, pushed forward by a dedicated group of people living with HIV, has prompted CATIE to reflect on our sexual HIV prevention messaging. The research on treatment as prevention has been slowly accumulating for many years. As an evidence-based organization, CATIE now recognizes that the evidence on undetectable viral load has reached a point where we are compelled to take our messaging a step further. We can comfortably say that when a person taking antiretroviral treatment has an ongoing undetectable...

Undetectable=Untransmittable – CATIE signs on

January 13, 2017 • By Laurie Edmiston

All of us here at CATIE, and indeed around the world, are celebrating the most significant development in the HIV world since the advent of effective combination therapy 20 years ago – people living with HIV with sustained undetectable viral loads can confidently declare to their sexual partners “I’m not infectious!” The “fabulousness” of this news cannot be overstated. With or without a condom, if you’re undetectable you won’t pass along HIV! This is an absolute game-changer and those who live with HIV can proudly share this information. At the same time, service providers working in HIV must get up...

RÉZO : vingt cinq ans d’action dans la communauté gaie à Montréal

December 6, 2016 • By Gabriel Girard

En 2016, l’organisme communautaire montréalais RÉZO a fêté ses 25 ans d’engagement pour la santé et le bien-être des gais. Trois choses à savoir sur cet organisme unique au Québec.

The Face of Our Story

November 15, 2016 • By Signe Dewar and Tom Barnard

The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, in partnership with the Toronto Community Hep C Program (TCHCP), invited people with lived experience of hepatitis C to take part in an art project called The Face of Our Story. In that project, clay tiles depicting stories of lived experience would be displayed at the museum on World Hepatitis Day, July 28, 2016. This is the story of two artists who participated in the event.

More obvious and sinister villains are responsible for the number of drug overdose deaths in Vancouver Island

October 25, 2016 • By Shane Calder

As of August 31st, 2016, the number of drug overdose deaths in the province of B.C. sat at 488, with the highest rate of fatal drug overdose occurring on Vancouver Island, where there has been a 135 per cent increase in fatal drug overdoses since August 31st, 2015 (compared to a 43.5 per cent increase provincially during the same time period). Health authorities, law enforcement, public health officers and politicians alike have stood shoulder to shoulder blaming fentanyl as the culprit; however I suggest that more obvious and sinister villains are responsible.