BC is the only province in Canada witnessing a significant decline in new HIV diagnoses, and experts say a local strategy emphasizing treatment as prevention could eliminate transmission of the disease if everyone was tested.
Progress in testing and treatment has gained momentum in recent years with a number of breakthroughs developed by BC researchers.
Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS said BC is the only province in Canada to see a significant decline in new HIV diagnoses.
“B.C. has seen a 90 per cent reduction in deaths related to HIV/AIDS and we’ve had a greater than 65 per cent decrease in new HIV cases,” he said.
Montaner credits the decline to BC’s adoption of his “treatment as prevention” strategy, a program that encourages universal testing, decreasing the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and providing medical treatment and support in an accessible way.
Montaner was also a lead investigator in the development of the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), a drug cocktail introduced in 1996 that has become the global standard of care.
He explained the therapy has been successful in sending the disease into remission and decreasing the chances of transmission between partners by 96 per cent.