Forecast Newsletter
For over a decade now, health care providers, researchers, scientists, service providers and members of the community have come together twice yearly at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) for a day-long conference on the status of HIV and related conditions in BC. On October 22nd, this year’s Fall HIV/ARV Update focused on […]
Just two years ago, UNAIDS announced a window of opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 by fast-tracking towards meeting the 90-90-90 Target. There was tempered optimism this ambitious goal was within reach. Now, the international HIV community is experiencing a sense of urgency: complacency is moving us perilously close to an HIV rebound. […]
The first time Dr. Zabrina Brumme entered the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE), she had no idea she would one day be the director of its innovative Laboratory Program. She was only seventeen at the time and had not yet embarked on a career in HIV research that would introduce her to many […]
On June 26th, BC Health Minister Adrian Dix joined BC-CfE Director Dr. Julio Montaner to mark very encouraging progress on the uptake of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) in BC, since the January 1st launch of the publicly funded program. At the press event, which took place at Jim Deva Plaza in […]
An HIV prevention program, available at no cost to people at high risk of HIV, is enrolling over 400 participants – primarily men who have sex with men (MSM) – every month right across BC. PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a daily oral antiretroviral medication that prevents new HIV infection when taken consistently. “Treatment as Prevention® […]
When an anonymous donor helped the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) establish a space for marginalized populations in the Downtown Eastside to provide healthcare, the BC-CfE worked with Dr. David Maberley, a highly credentialed ophthalmologist, to include an eye clinic. The Downtown Eastside Eye Clinic (DEEC), located at 623 Powell Street (accessible through […]
According to health officials, Panama’s embrace of Treatment as Prevention® (TasP® ) since 2014 has resulted in quicker diagnosis, as well as accelerating the linkage of patients to antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinics. The country’s HIV diagnoses curve has stabilized in recent years and officials expect it will decrease in the coming years. “We have achieved […]
A revolutionary phylogenetic monitoring program developed at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) demonstrates how HIV is spreading across five provinces in Canada. This first-of-its-kind system identifies HIV transmission outbreaks, or “clusters” (groups of recent, related, HIV infections) in near real-time. “HIV does not stop at jurisdictional boundaries. Yet time and time again, […]
British Columbians, including men and transwomen who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, and people who have sex with individuals living with HIV, can now access free medication to protect against HIV. As of January 1st, the province of British Columbia is covering the cost of pre-exposure prophylaxis treatment (PrEP), recommended by the […]
BC leads the way nationally In 1996, BC was the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Canada, with the province diagnosing up to 800 people a year at the height of the crisis. Being in the ‘eye of the storm’ forced the province and researchers to address the disease with an innovative spirit and ground-breaking […]
PEP: Start early, follow up and start a conversation Dr. Marianne Harris, Clinical Research Advisor with the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE), provided an overview of the new BC-CfE PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) guidelines. Dr. Harris emphasized the safety and tolerability of the PEP regimen will be improved with the use of raltegravir and […]
Diabetes Canada announced it is adapting the made-in-BC Treatment as Prevention (TasP) strategy to diabetes to make over 6 million Canadians living with pre-diabetes, and diabetes, aware of their status. The epidemic of diabetes and prediabetes affects over 11 million Canadians and can cause blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and lower limb amputation. Diabetes […]