Researchers at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (CfE) in Vancouver have amassed extensive health-related data collected from HIV-positive people. These data have been stripped of information that could be used to identify individual patients. From time to time this data is analysed to produce reports. Recently, researchers at the CfE sought to examine trends in AIDS-related illnesses (infections, cancers and complications) between 1981 and 2013. They found that rates of AIDS-related illnesses and deaths fell once potent combination anti-HIV therapy (commonly called ART or HAART) became available in the mid-to-late 1990s. Data from the CfE has also contributed to many reports, including one that predicts near-normal life span for some HIV-positive people.
In its latest report, published in the journal Lancet HIV, the CfE team underscores the importance of comprehensive barrier-free access to the offer of HIV testing, counselling, and swift referral to care (in cases where test results are positive), followed by the offer of treatment as well as ongoing care and monitoring. The B.C. team states that such comprehensive services have helped to make massive progress against AIDS. However, they note that further investment in such services is needed to sustain progress and to further reduce the spread of HIV.