One in five HIV-positive Canadians don’t know they’re HIV-positive

published on December 1, 2015 by Andrew Russell, in Global News

About 16,000 Canadians are living with HIV and don’t know it, according to statistics from Canada’s Public Health Agency (PHAC).

That figure has prompted health experts to call for increased testing and more proactive treatment to reach people who haven’t been diagnosed and prevent them from spreading the illness to others.

Dec. 1 marks World AIDS Day. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization embraced a made-in-Canada approach to tackling HIV/AIDS. But Canada has yet to adopt treatment-as-prevention outside British Columbia.

It starts with changing the way people view HIV screening and their level of risk, says Laurie Edmiston, executive director of the HIV resource website CATIE.

“We need to make testing more accessible and less intimidating for people,” Edmiston told Global News.

“Right now people get tested because they identify that they have been at risk. … We need to reach this pretty significant population of people who are living HIV and don’t know it.”

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© Copyright BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
St. Paul's Hospital 608–1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-8477 | Fax: 604-806-9044
General inquiries: info@bccfe.ca
Media inquiries: communications@bccfe.ca
(Please do not use any of these email addresses to send personal information or book an appointment. To book appointments or contact the H2H clinic, please call 604-416-1517 or fax: 604-564-4893. Do not send your or your client's personal information via email.)

Our work serves clients and communities across British Columbia on lands and waters cared for and nurtured by the many distinct First Nations across the province. The BC-CfE humbly and gratefully acknowledge the stewards of these lands, particularly the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) on whose unceded, traditional and ancestral territories our offices are located.