Making treatment as prevention a reality for people who inject drugs

People who inject drugs risk being left behind as countries make efforts to scale up antiretroviral treatment unless greater efforts are made to develop services that meet the needs of this group, according to speakers at Controlling the HIV Epidemic with Antiretrovirals: From Consensus to Implementation, a conference that took place in London this week.

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Prof. Julio Montaner of the University of British Columbia presented further data from the British Columbia HIV treatment programme, the first in Canada to embrace a ‘seek and treat’ approach to HIV diagnosis and care.

Modelling suggests that British Columbia has seen a 1% decline in HIV diagnoses for every 1% increase in treatment coverage, although the reduction in new diagnoses has been most pronounced in people who inject drugs. Further falls in deaths, AIDS diagnoses and TB diagnoses have occurred since 2006. The ‘seek and treat’ strategy has also resulted in a substantial increase in CD4 cell count at diagnosis, indicating that testing activities are diagnosing people earlier in the course of infection.

Keith Alcorn
AIDS Map
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During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below

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