If Dr. Ryan Meili has his way, Saskatchewan will no longer be lagging behind other provinces in detecting, treating and preventing HIV infection.
“In terms of responding to an epidemic that is as serious as this, we haven’t really made the grade,” Meili said.
The province has made strides since implementing a four-year HIV Strategy, which wound down last year. The rate of new infections slowed.
However, Saskatchewan remains the only province where the incidence of HIV has not “decreased or leveled off at, near or below the national average of 5.9 cases per 100,000.”
That’s according to a report Meili co-authored, by the group called Saskatchewan HIV/AIDS Research Endeavour (SHARE).
Double national average
It cites incidence rates more than double the national average, the highest in the country at 11.5 cases for 100,000 in 2013.
An estimated 27 per cent of people infected with HIV don’t know they are.
Among the 129 new cases in 2013, 68 per cent were among aboriginal people, 55 per cent were due to injection drug use, and 27 per cent were through heterosexual contact.
SHARE is proposing a bold attack on the epidemic, summed up as 90-90-90. That’s 90 per cent of all people living with HIV tested and diagnosed, 90 per cent of people diagnosed are treated with anti-retroviral drugs, and 90 per cent of people treated reach virus levels so low they can’t pass the infection on to someone else.