Medical treatment for HIV/AIDS is advancing, but stigma still present
Posted Dec 1, 2024 04:14:22 PM.
Dec. 1 marks World AIDS Day and the beginning of Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week, and Canadian leaders are encouraging continual education on the disease and ends to stigma that has historically surrounded it.
In 2023, 2,434 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in Canada, representing a 35 per cent increase since 2022. Each day, an estimated five Canadians are diagnosed with HIV. Individuals aged 25 to 39 made up a significant portion of the new cases. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer says there are a variety of factors influencing this upward trend including increased testing rates, as well as social determinants of health risk factors like housing insecurity, lower income, substance and experiences of violence which can limit access to healthcare.
“There is still much work to be done, but I am inspired by the tremendous efforts that community programs have made in creating lasting change,” Dr. Tam said in a statement. “It is through listening to the voices of people living with HIV and working closely with community, that we can take the rights path and achieve our common goals.”
Doing so can also help reduce the stigma. Tam said the scientific knowledge base of HIV has expanded over the past several decades. Canada supports that Undetectable = Untransmittable, a movement dedicated to promoting the evidence that shows HIV is not passed on when a person living with HIV is receiving treatment and the amount of the virus in their blood remains low. This knowledge, Tam said, encourages more people to seek testing and treatment.
Earlier this year, the Government of Canada launched the Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections Action Plan 2024-2030 to help accelerate the end of HIV as a public health concern. Canada is taking measures like promoting accredited training on best practices for HIV care and making HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (HIV PrEP), a preventative medication that HIV-negative people can take to prevent them from getting HIV, widely available for those at risk. Following these measures, Tam said Canada could rid HIV as a public health concern by 2030.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeated this sentiment.
“No Canadian should have to feel alone in this fight.”
