BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS to expand Safer Drug Supply in the DTES with the support of Health Canada's Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP)

published on February 1, 2021

VANCOUVER, BC Monday, February 1, 2021 - The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) is grateful for the funding awarded by Health Canada's Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP). The $3.6M for 2020 to 2023 will support an evidence-informed innovative Safer Drug Supply Program at the BC-CfE’s Hope to Health Research & Innovation Complex in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES).

BC has been under a public health emergency since the Spring of 2016 due to the significant rise in opioid-related overdose deaths. More than 6,500 people have fatally overdosed since the declaration of an emergency and now, with the concurrent public health emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic, the problem is getting worse with approximately five British Columbians dying every day as a result of overdoses. The COVID-19 pandemic has made BC’s street drug supply more toxic, and access to services more cumbersome; as a result, more people are dying from accidental overdoses.

Starting in October 2019, the Hope to Health Complex has offered primary care to DTES residents with the support of an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, counsellors, and peer navigators. The model of care provides ‘wrap-around’ healthcare to clients, ensuring they receive the full continuum of care under one roof. Over 800 clients have been registered since opening. Starting October 2020, the Hope to Health Complex added a Supervised Consumption Site, as an important new service and an additional entry point to the array of services provided. The new SUAP funding, under the Risk Mitigation Interim Guidelines, allows the BC-CfE to expand access to methadone and hydromorphone as well as other pharmacological alternatives to street drugs among individuals chronically using illegal street drugs.

Dr. Julio Montaner, the BC-CfE’s Executive Director and Physician-in-Chief, said, “We are grateful for the support from Heath Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program, a timely investment as we continue to battle British Columbia’s opioid overdose crisis. In this context, the expansion of safer drug supply in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver represents a critically important next step. This program expands the holistic nature of the supports we offer at the Hope to Health Complex, in collaboration with the BC-Government, Providence Health Care and Vancouver Coastal Health. Established with generous funding from two anonymous philanthropic donors, the Hope to Health Complex offers innovative primary health care, a dedicated oral opioid substitution program, and an ophthalmology clinic, as well as the newly established Supervised Consumption Site and the Safer Drug Supply program. Our ultimate goal is to expand and sustain the gains we have made in the control of HIV/AIDS in BC, and to continue to expand these efforts to the area of viral hepatitis, within an environment where mental health and substance use are highly prevalent and in urgent need of further innovative programs.”

Fiona Dalton, President and CEO of Providence Health Care said, “PHC welcomes this exciting news regarding the much-needed expansion of safer drug supply in the DTES led by the BC Centre for Excellence at the Hope to Health Complex. Helping people transition from the increasingly toxic supply of street drugs to pharmacological alternatives will save lives. This support from Health Canada's Substance Use and Addictions Program is much-needed as BC escalates efforts to control the opioid overdoses crisis.”

For the full press release from Health Canada, please click here

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About the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) is Canada’s largest HIV/AIDS research, treatment and education facility – nationally and internationally recognized as an innovative world leader in combating HIV/AIDS and related diseases. The made-in- BC Treatment as Prevention strategy (TasP) pioneered by BC-CfE, and supported by UNAIDS since 2011, inspired the ambitious global target for HIV treatment - known as the 90-90-90 Target - to end AIDS as a pandemic by 2030. The BC-CfE is applying TasP to therapeutic areas beyond HIV/AIDS, including viral hepatitis and addiction, to promote Targeted Disease Elimination as a means to contribute to healthcare sustainability. The BC-CfE works in close collaboration with key stakeholders, including government, health authorities, health care providers, academics, and the community to decrease the health burden of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and addictions across Canada and around the world.

For more information, please contact:

BC-CfE Communications Coordinator Edmond Chu
Cell: 236-885-4617
Email: echu@bccfe.ca

Tags:

Hope to Health Supervised Consumption Site (SCS)

Julio Montaner

BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS to expand Safer Drug Supply in the DTES with the support of Health Canada's Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP)

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