The state of AIDS today: How far we’ve come, and how far we have to go still

published on December 1, 2014 in Metro News

Devastation spurred us into action

Dr. Julio Montaner

Dr. Julio Montaner, the world-renowned AIDS researcher and director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, remembers what it was like to walk the streets of Vancouver at the height of the outbreak in the 1980s and ’90s.

“The first decade or two was really devastating. It was a bit scary to walk down Davie Street,” said Montaner, referring to the city’s gay district. “There was a lot of AIDS walking around, a lot of sick people.”

At that time, patients — mostly gay men, then — were being ostracized, discriminated against and stigmatized. For Montaner, it was the sight of real human suffering on the streets and the chance to learn from advocates that helped turn the tables and change the culture surrounding the disease.

“It had an effect on you,” said Montaner, chief architect of the UN’s new 90-90-90 strategy to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Much of the fear and paranoia in the gay community gave way to tolerance and education, allowing researchers and health-care workers to attack the virus. Patients are living longer lives thanks to Montaner and his team, who championed advances in the form of highly active antiretroviral therapy (to reduce viral loads) and the Treatment as Prevention model (to cut the spread of the disease). The latest advancement is a regimen of drugs that can be taken proactively, preventing patients (those that can afford it) from contracting the virus. As a result, new AIDS cases in Canada have dropped 90.6 per cent since 1993, when the country reported a record 1,833 cases.

Montaner has been calling for the federal government to adopt his strategies on a national level to reach affected and often marginalized groups.

Shift doesn’t extend to those hit hardest

Jessica St. Jean

Despite the medical progress being made treating patients and reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS, cultural stigmas still prevent many populations from accessing proper education, testing and medical services.

“HIV, in the minds of people, is as serious as it has ever been,” said Jessica St. Jean, manager of the indigenous education program at YouthCo, a Vancouver organization that strives to reduce the impact of HIV among youth.

“There is still so much stigma and fear around sex and sexuality and HIV.”

While gay communities in urban centres have plenty of education and medical resources available to them, other demographics aren’t so lucky.

First Nations, gay people in rural communities, drug addicts and sex-trade workers are underserved and even criminalized in many cases.

“(Yet) marginalized populations are the ones most affected by HIV,” said St. Jean.

For example, the rate of positive HIV test reports in Saskatchewan has suddenly skyrocketed to 17 per 100,000 people as of 2012, three times the national average.

That spike is largely attributed to drug use within aboriginal communities.

“Just getting tested is a barrier outside the cities,” said St. Jean, adding education is woefully lacking, along with resources.

“I’m indigenous and come from a small town; it’s well known if you go to a hospital you won’t be treated as well because of the colour of your skin.”

Matt Kieltyka
Metro News
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The state of AIDS today: How far we’ve come, and how far we have to go still

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