Fernando

Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) have been disproportionally affected by the HIV epidemic in British Columbia (BC). Since 2010, Treatment as Prevention®¨ (TasP®¨) has been adopted as a public health policy in BC to maximize health care engagement of people living with HIV and improve virologic suppression, and as a result, to reduce secondary new infections. However, TasP®¨ has been relatively less responsive in reducing HIV transmission among MSM than in other populations in BC, which calls for further optimization and combination with other preventive strategies.

The BC-CfE’s Laboratory Director Dr. Zabrina Brumme alongside Dr. Mark Brockman of Simon Fraser University and Dr. Marc Romney of Providence Health Care and UBC co-led research which found that a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine produces a much weaker antibody response inlong-term care (LTC) residents than it does in younger healthy adults.

The BC-CfE’s Dr. Kate Salters, a research scientist with the Centre’s Epidemiology and Population Health program, along with BC-CfE Senior Scientist Dr. Robert Hogg, recently published research investigating mortality among under-served people living with HIV in BC.

UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women has announced the theme for International Women’s Day 2021 as,”Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.”

Thanks to the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the 1990s and the BC-CfE’s Treatment as Prevention®¨ strategy, people living with HIV (PLWH) in BC are now able to live longer lives. With an increased lifespan, morbidity and mortality from non-AIDS comorbidities have emerged as major concerns.

Terry Salman, a friend and long-time supporter of the BC-CfE, was recently named a member of the Order of Canada.