The official theme of the United Nations’ World AIDS Day, December 1st, is “Know Your Status.” Throughout the month of November, the BC-CfE is building awareness about HIV. We are challenging British Columbians to learn more about HIV.
The first step: Know your status. BC guidelines recommend all adults to be tested for HIV. Next: Take our online quiz to challenge your knowledge about HIV in BC and Canada. And importantly: Get talking about HIV to challenge stigma.
Follow along as the BC-CfE will be sharing stories and interviews from top HIV researchers and those in the community living with HIV. We are asking how things have changed and where we still need to progress further. For example, in British Columbia, at the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, one person was dying of AIDS every day. Renowned Vancouver artist Tiko Kerr, a long-term HIV survivor, still remembers and says “I am the only survivor of anyone I know from those days.”
Eventually, through the development of lifesaving highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) in 1996, individuals were able to survive an HIV diagnosis. BC-CfE Director Dr. Julio Montaner played a key role in this landmark discovery that marked a turning point for the HIV epidemic here in BC and worldwide.
Now through access to antiretroviral treatment, an individual living with HIV can lead a longer, healthier life. In BC, through widespread testing and access to HIV treatment, the vertical transmission of HIV (from mother to child) has virtually been eliminated. This marks a huge early victory for Treatment as Prevention¨, a homegrown strategy that has led BC to be the only province to see a consistent decline in new HIV cases.
However, even in 2018, many misconceptions about HIV persist-contributing to stigma that has been shown in research to create barriers to accessing effective services and care.
Let’s bring to light and dispel these misconceptions.
Help us get the word out to a broader audience by sharing the #KnowYourStatusBC campaign on Twitter and Facebook. You can also help by starting a conversation about HIV. And ask your health care provider for a test. We can all get tested to know our status. And we can all know more about HIV.