HIV dropping among IV drug users due to harm reduction, says B.C.’s health officer

B.C.’s top doctor is pushing to keep harm reduction and anti-retroviral therapy as key health strategies after a new report showed rates of HIV infection among those who inject drugs continues to drop.

Provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall released the report noting several reasons why intravenous drug users aren’t catching HIV or hepatitis C despite the risky practice.

One of the factors he cited is highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), which Kendall describes as “the current gold standard in HIV treatment.”

“HAART has the ability to change the way people live with HIV by improving their quality of life and reducing transmission rates,” he said.

Also helping is a pilot program called Seek and Treat to Optimally Prevent HIV/AIDS (STOP AIDS), to which the province has committed $48 million over four years. The year-old project led by Dr. Julio Montaner of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS aims to connect at-risk people in Prince George and Vancouver with testing and treatment services.

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During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below

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