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Sunday December 1st marks World AIDS Day, a solemn day to remember the millions of lives lost to HIV/AIDS, reflect on the progress we’ve made and focus on the work still to be done. This day is particularly poignant here in BC, the epicentre of Canada’s epidemic in the 1980s. Within a decade and a half, however, the 1996 International AIDS Conference offered the first glimmer of hope with the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy, which for the first time allowed us to stop disease progression to AIDS and premature AIDS-related mortality. Shortly thereafter, we demonstrated that people living with HIV (PLWH) who were on effective therapy were no longer infectious, so we proposed to expand treatment coverage to all PLWH with the aim of stopping the epidemic.

August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day, an annual campaign to end overdoses, remember without stigma those who have died from overdose, and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind. The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) joins families, friends and communities in mourning the needless losses of life through overdose and continue to advocate for an end to the toxic drug crisis through a safer supply of drugs.

The BC-CfE is proud to announce Executive Director & Physician-in-Chief Dr. Julio Montaner is among the three 2023 Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health (CIHR-IPPH) Trailblazer Award Winners. Announced at the Canadian Public Health Association Conference, the Trailblazer Awards support early, mid and senior career researchers who have made exceptional contributions to population and public health in Canada and around the world through evidence-based policies and interventions.

This World AIDS Day, BC-CfE Executive Director & Physician-in-Chief Dr. Julio Montaner reflects on the immeasurable loss experienced due to HIV/AIDS and the challenges the disease has posed over the past 40 years. With the UNAIDS theme of ‘Equalize’, Dr. Montaner calls for leadership and funding at a national level to implement a national strategy based on Treatment as Prevention¨ to ensure provinces have the resources and framework to meet the ambitious 95-95-95 Targets.