Canadian HIV and AIDS organizations say the international AIDS conference that opens this week in Montreal highlights Canada’s lag in the fight against the disease.
They point out that federal government funding has not increased since 2008, even though the number of people living with HIV in Canada has since increased by 25%.
These organizations are calling for the federal government to increase its subsidies to $100 million annually, as opposed to the $73 million currently dedicated to this fight, a figure recommended by a parliamentary committee in 2003.
“The number of new infections continues to remain fairly stable, rather than declining,” said Richard Elliott, former director of Toronto’s HIV Legal Network, an organization that advocates for the rights of people living with HIV.
“If this global envelope of 100 million dollars [était] actually delivered, we could improve the search, he argued. We could fund more organizations to reach more populations with frontline HIV prevention work, and then with support and treatment programs. »
Mr. Elliot, who is scheduled to speak at the Montreal conference, said that not only has federal funding not increased, but part of that amount dedicated to AIDS research has been used for work on other sexually transmitted diseases.
He said Ottawa recently dipped into HIV and AIDS research funds to help organizations control outbreaks of monkeypox that are being reported across the country.
Although he says it’s “great” that these organizations are getting more funding, it shouldn’t be the HIV organizations that are paying the price.
“It’s still the same model, which is to expect underfunded organizations, with insufficient funds, to continue to face more and more challenges, rather than arming them with resources to deal with these new challenges, in addition to ending the fight against the HIV epidemic, which is far from over,” he said.
Achieve goals
According to the most recent data from the Public Health Agency of Canada, approximately 1,500 people were infected with HIV in Canada in 2020. This brings the number of Canadians living with HIV to over 62,000.
The federal government says that in 2020, 90% of people living with HIV in Canada knew their status; 87% of people living with HIV were receiving treatment; and 95% of people on treatment had an undetectable viral load.
The executive director of the Coalition of Quebec Community Organizations for the Fight against AIDS (COCQ-SIDA), Ken Monteith, says these statistics show that Canada has not met all of its 2020 targets, which are part of a commitment joint United Nations and World Health Organization. He clarified that the target was 90% in all three categories.
Mr. Monteith said that at its current pace, Canada is not on track to meet global targets for the sexual health of people living with HIV.
Canada’s targets for 2025 are to achieve 95% in all three categories, a target set by UNAIDS. But Monteith, who is taking part in several roundtables at the conference, thinks Canada has little chance of achieving those goals.
“If we don’t change our posture and provide sufficient funding, we won’t get there,” he says.
Health Canada spokesman Mark Johnson said it will take collaboration between government, health care workers and community groups for the country to meet its 2025 sexual health targets for HIV.
In an email, Johnson said the federal government remains “committed to ensuring that people in Canada have equitable access to prevention, testing and care for sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections. »
Jody Jollimore, executive director of the Community-Based Research Centre, a Vancouver-based organization that advocates for the health of people of sexual diversity, said Ottawa must “force” the provinces to increase accessibility to effective drugs to prevent HIV like PrEP.
“It’s not just about funding, it’s about leadership, and we need the federal government to show some leadership on this,” said Ms. Jollimore, who is scheduled to speak at the conference in Montreal.
“We actually have great tools right now to prevent HIV, we just need to get them into the hands of the right people,” she says.
AIDS 2022, the 24th International AIDS Conference, is scheduled to take place from July 29 to August 2 at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal.
This event brings together researchers, health professionals and people living with HIV. Previous editions have attracted more than 20,000 participants.