May 2022

In late April the Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR) held its annual conference. With more than 1,000 members, CAHR is the leading organization of HIV/AIDS researchers in Canada. The theme for this year’s virtual conference was “Striving Towards Equity and Flourishing in the HIV Response”. In choosing the theme, organizers of the conference compared the decades-long fight for equitable distribution of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and the massive disparities seen between high and low-income countries in both.

Schizophrenia affects more than 24 million people worldwide according to the World Health Organization. Common symptoms include thinking disorder, delusions, hallucinations, and negative syndrome, which induces severe loss of interest and social isolation. The term schizophrenia literally means “a splitting of the mind” and was coined in 1908 by Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Paul Eugen Bleuler.

This year the BC-CfE is celebrating its 30th year of excellence. In this video, Dr. Julio Montaner, the BC-CfE’s Executive Director and Physician-in-chief, kicks off the anniversary activities, reflecting on how the Centre has grown and evolved since 1992 and thanking its patients, the staff, the numerous supporters, partners and friends.

Health authorities in Canada, the US, Spain, Portugal, and the UK have issued alerts over possible outbreaks of monkeypox. This viral infection is usually spread by respiratory transmission, but in these latest cases certain characteristics point towards fluid contact as a possible mode of transmission. A majority of these monkeypox cases are among men who have sex with men.

In the 30 years since its inception in 1992, the advancements made by the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) have transformed HIV from a rapidly fatal disease, to a chronic and manageable illness that is highly, and easily, preventable. By helping shape local and global policy with its Treatment as Prevention¨ strategy, the BC-CfE has quite literally revolutionized HIV/AIDS care, saving and improving millions of lives worldwide.