It’s no secret that the last Canadian federal government, Stephen Harper’s Conservative party, did little in the fight again HIV. However, the new Justin Trudeau Liberal government has said they are committed to evidence-based decision making, and Vancouver’s MP, Dr Hedy Fry, is an enthusiastic supporter of Treatment as Prevention (“TasP”), and the wider 90-90-90 Strategy of testing, treating, and viral suppression.
“I had the opportunity to meet with Justin Trudeau during the campaign,” said Dr. Julio Montaner. “Hedy Fry actually accompanied him to the visit. I was very pleased with everything that transpired as a result of that visit. I had the opportunity to discuss all of our work, not just TasP and the 90-90-90 Strategy but also commercial sex work, legal reform, etc. Certainly TasP and the 90-90-90 Strategy was the focal point of our conversation. He was very supportive. So much so that he actually wrote me a letter dated October 8th.”
In 1987 Dr. Julio Montaner joined the Faculty at St. Paul’s Hospital/University of British Columbia as the Director of the AIDS Research Program and the Infectious Disease Clinic. He is a founding co-Director of the Canadian HIV Trials Network, the Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, and he was the President of the International AIDS Society. Recently, he has been assigned the position of Global Advisor on HIV Therapeutics to the Executive Director of the United Nations AIDS Programme.
Throughout his years, Dr. Montaner has authored over 650 scientific publications on HIV/AIDS, focused on development of antiretroviral therapies and management strategies. He has played a key role in establishing the efficacy of NNRTI based highly active antiretroviral therapy. He then focused his attention to HAART access to hard to reach populations. Since the late 90’s he also pioneered the concept of Treatment as Prevention (TasP). Largely through his efforts, TasP has now been implemented with great success in many places. His work has not gone unnoticed. In fact, Dr. Montaner has received numerous awards and distinctions for his research work.
“In late September we went to the United Nations for the discussion on the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Dr. Montaner. The End of AIDS by 2030 was discussed and of course the road map to the end of the AIDS pandemic. The road map is the 90-90-90 Strategy that we developed; we proposed this and it was adopted by Ban Ki Moon and the United Nations General Assembly. Since then, we have had a lot of support from a number of countries, though not from Canada. I was going back to the United Nations and Canada didn’t want to accompany me. This time I wrote to the heads of all the heads of the political parties and the Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Perry Bellegarde, who actually came and visited with me and pledged his support for the strategy. I wrote to Stephen Harper, in his role as Prime Minister and candidate, Rona Ambrose (the Minister for Health), my local representatives Hedy Fry and Joyce Murray. The Green Party put out a statement, the NDP put out a statement, Justin Trudeau put out a personal statement, and the Conservations didn’t say anything.”