A Vancouver-based HIV/AIDS pioneer could soon see Canada back his internationally recognized HIV treatment – but only with the ouster of the Conservative government, which for nearly a decade has rebuffed his calls.
Last week, Julio Montaner, director of B.C.’s Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, wrote a letter to the leaders of Canada’s federal parties urging them to endorse an ambitious global target to help end the AIDS epidemic. Meeting the “90-90-90” target by 2020 “will lead to a 90 per cent reduction in the global burden of HIV/AIDS by 2030,” he wrote.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has embraced the target; the UN General Assembly on Sunday adopted it as the strategy for the global control of HIV/AIDS. Numerous countries, including the United States, China, South Africa, France and Spain, have already signed on.
The Globe and Mail reached out to the federal Conservative, NDP, Liberal and Green parties, seeking responses to Dr. Montaner’s letter. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said she has spoken in favour of the treatment model in the House of Commons and has on her MP website a petition she helped design and deliver that calls for the immediate implementation of a national AIDS strategy based on it.
“We are totally in favour of these goals,” Ms. May said in an e-mail.
Victoria NDP candidate Murray Rankin said the New Democrats support the 90-90-90 target and criticized the Conservative government for its “lack of leadership on this critical global health issue.”
“We should be supporting the ground-breaking work from the leaders in our own community,” Mr. Rankin said in an e-mail. “Given this is a public-health issue in Canada that touches far too many, the government needs to work with the provinces to adopt the targets domestically, ensuring treatment for HIV/AIDS is accessible, and prevention is a priority across the country.”