Hidden away in the pages of the Spring 2015 edition of CATIE’s Prevention in Focus, a series of articles intended to inform the work of service providers, comes a document that is staggeringly important for all to read. “Changing the Narrative: Why HIV prevention work in Canada needs to embrace HIV treatment” is also exactly right for the times. Meticulously researched by CATIE’s Tim Rogers, it not only sets out the case for including treatment as part of the prevention narrative, it excites in that it pushes the argument for early treatment harder than it has ever done before.
It also suggests, as PositiveLite.com has done in the past, that Canada is not doing enough.
Says CATIE “The new UNAIDS strategy emphasizes that the tremendous potential of HIV treatment is not being realized, not even in developed countries like Canada. This must change to bring the HIV epidemic under control.”
CATIE concludes “Around the world, many new campaigns have been launched that seek to engage communities and individuals to think about HIV differently and to start new discussions about prevention and treatment based on the advances we have made in our knowledge of HIV. The time has come for everyone to join in the discussion.”
It’s hard not to argue that Canada needs to get serious about the role treatment can play both in preventing transmission and in improving health outcomes for people living with HIV. Until that happens, I’d argue that people living with HIV are not being as well served as they might.