New cases of HIV among those who use drugs by injection continue to decline in B.C., according to a report by the provincial health officer.
A major factor in the decline has been the expansion of Highly Active Anti-retroviral Therapy (HAART) and harm reduction programs, says the report.
Introduced in 1997, HAART is a combination of three or more drugs from at least two classes of antiretroviral drugs. It’s designed to attack HIV in various stages of its life cycle.
The latest research from the BC Centre for Excellence shows that the number of people living with HIV in B.C. who were receiving HAART increased by 547 percent from 1996 to 2009. During that same time period, new HIV diagnoses fell by 52 percent.