HIV strategy must be clear

published on July 6, 2012 in The StarPhoenix

Dr. Moira McKinnon is wise to suggest that any effective provincial anti-HIV strategy will require a series of well funded, locally controlled public health programs.

And, as the province's chief medical health officer told Leader-Post reporter Pamela Cowen, a Saskatchewan strategy could look completely different from the one in place in British Columbia.

It's worth noting that Saskatchewan has among the highest per-capita HIV infection rates in the country even though it seemed to have reached a plateau, and B.C. has among the most successful strategies to reduce HIV infection rates. That would suggest it's worth Saskatchewan's effort at least to examine B.C.'s model, which included such drug strategies as the Insite injection site, to consider if elements could be adopted successfully by this province.

B.C. also isn't the only jurisdiction that has experienced success by adopting more liberal attitudes on drug enforcement. As Dr. McKinnon notes, from Portugal to Switzerland to Germany, all have learned that treating the issue as a public health matter rather than as a criminal problem is proving more effective in mitigating infection rates.

So far, Saskatchewan has adopted an ambivalent attitude. Although the provincial government has, for example, supported such public health initiatives as needle exchange programs, it has also been a staunch supporter of the federal government's "tough-on-crime" agenda that prison ombudsman Howard Sapers has warned will increasingly lead to double bunking and internal violence in correctional institutions.

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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HIV strategy must be clear

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