REGINA – When Dr. Julio Montaner discovered a cocktail of drugs to treat HIV in the early 1990s, British Columbia was experiencing the “worst epidemic in the country.”
The B.C. government made the treatment free and available to all HIV patients; as a result, the number of new cases have since decreased by two-thirds.
“We don’t see AIDS any more,” said Montaner of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.
As Saskatchewan grapples with HIV numbers more than twice the national average – 129 newly diagnosed cases in 2013, and nearly 1,200 people living with the disease today – Montaner’s experience could be the answer to reducing and treating HIV/AIDS in the province.
Montaner spoke Thursday at the prairie HIV/HCV benchmark meeting at the Hilton DoubleTree in Regina.
The meeting, hosted by Saskatchewan HIV/AIDS Research Endeavour (SHARE), brought together doctors, health experts and other interested parties from across Saskatchewan and Western Canada to share knowledge about HIV and Hepatitis C strategy, create benchmarks and offer suggestions on reshaping policy in the province.
“You hear people here asking ‘how do we stop people from presenting late?'” said Montaner, a special adviser on HIV for the United Nations.