UNAIDS 90:90:90 appears to have set the course for a global ‘treatment as prevention’ strategy. In 2015 the US revised its National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) to harmonize its goals with UNAIDS 90% targets for testing, engagement in care, and virological suppression. Though the HIV/AIDS community have been nervous about the impact of the recent change
Since it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2012, preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has changed the HIV prevention landscape in the United States. At the end of the first quarter of 2017, an estimated 120,000 Americans were taking emtricitabine/ tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/TDF) for PrEP. The number of new prescriptions remained
Gay and bisexual men who connect with others primarily online are more likely to be single, closeted, and have higher HIV stigma compared to men who connect mainly in-person, according to a study released last week. The Momentum Health Study, a longitudinal survey of 744 gay and bisexual men in Vancouver, Canada, asked men about
The fact that people infected with HIV who are virally suppressed cannot sexually transmit the virus to others is now accepted in the HIV/AIDS community as a result of accumulating evidence since the early 2000s. In early 2016, the Undetectable=Untransmissable (U=U) slogan was launched by the Prevention Access Campaign to promote the finding. The campaign
Diabetes Canada is adopting a diagnosis-and-treatment model of prevention pioneered by Vancouver-based AIDS researcher Dr. Julio Montaner. The approach hangs on the notion that modifiable human behaviour helps drive the spread of viruses such as HIV/AIDS and also diseases of lifestyle such as type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes. Montaner notes that people are more likely
Diabetes Canada adapting made-in-BC Treatment as Prevention (TasP¨) strategy to diabetes, making 6 million Canadians aware of their status VANCOUVER, Oct. 20, 2017 /CNW/ – Diabetes Canada is adopting the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Treatment as Prevention¨ (TasP¨) approach to tackle the epidemic of diabetes and prediabetes currently affecting over 11 million Canadians.
WHAT: Cardiology experts from Canada and around the world converge in Vancouver to brainstorm strategies to eradicate the impact of heart disease, showcase the latest research breakthroughs − and hear hundreds of speakers highlight innovations in science, prevention, treatment, and recovery. Congress delegates return home to their labs and practices armed with new tools and
This Saturday, federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor will be in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to visit ground zero of the worst public-health crisis in decades. In British Columbia, people are dying of drug overdose at a rate of almost four per day. Across Canada, more people are dying than at the height of the HIV-AIDS
Bob Leahy on what words to use and what words to avoid when describing risk and ability to transmit applicable to an undetectable viral load – and why that’s important The language of HIV has evolved at an accelerated pace in recent years. It can be a struggle to keep up, to use the right
Pilot project has patients in several B.C. cities getting $25 to see if it will encourage testing Is $25 over two visits enough of an incentive to encourage people to get tested for HIV or AIDS or, for those who already know their status, to resume treatment? That’s the question a group of researchers with
A new Canadian study is paying people $10 each to be tested or treated for HIV/AIDS. The British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS researchers behind this effort initiated the study on Friday, beginning with 139 people from Prince George, Victoria, Surrey, and Vancouver. The participants were chosen for health issues that make them at
Giving back and helping others. This is what made Manraj Sidhu from Mackenzie pursue a career in veterinary medicine. “Whatever career path I pursue, I hope to contribute back to the profession in some way,” said Sidhu, who began his first year of classes at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in August. He, along
Initiating combination anti-HIV therapy (ART) can greatly reduce the amount of HIV in the blood (viral load). Over time, as the viral load continues to fall, in the majority of people it reaches a very low level that cannot be accurately assessed using routine laboratory tests. Such low viral load levels are commonly called “undetectable.”
Studies have proven that having an undetectable viral load means you can’t transmit HIV-and people are finally waking up. This May, Hans Berlin, an HIV-positive gay porn star, gave an acceptance speech at the Grabbys, an annual awards show for the gay-porn industry. Hans was accepting an award for best threeway for a scene from
VANCOUVER — Lisa Partridge was 14 when she learned she was HIV-positive. The teenager living in Comox, B.C., underwent a tainted blood transfusion when she was an infant in Romania. When she fell terribly ill at age one, her distraught parents searched for a cause until a doctor finally recommended HIV testing. She tested positive.
Chicago Department of Public Health announced on Sept. 28 that city officials were joining the international “U=U” promotional campaign aimed both at raising awareness about the effectiveness of HIV treatment and reducing stigmatization of persons with HIV/AIDS. “U=U” is an abbreviation for “Undetectable=Untransmittable.” The campaign was launched in 2016 by the Prevention Access Campaign, an
The period during which HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) are potentially infectious fell significantly between 2007 and 2016, investigators from Australia report in the online edition of AIDS. Data from Melbourne Sexual Health Centre showed that the intervals between HIV infection and diagnosis, between diagnosis to viral suppression and between infection to
KAMLOOPS – To reduce drug overdose deaths, Vancouver Coastal Health authority plans to track patients to make sure they are taking their prescribed opioids. I may seem odd that lives can be saved by making sure that patients take one opioid (Methadone) so that they don’t die from another (fentanyl). But that’s what statistics show.
Health experts in B.C. are examining an HIV prevention drug that a Vancouver gay men’s health group wants to see covered provincially. The drug, called Truvada, was approved by Health Canada last year, and is prescribed both as a treatment for people with the disease, and as a preventative therapy meant to keep the virus
