Why HIV prevention is still out of reach for many people in rural BC

PrEP may be free now, but who can access it?

Soon after Nagata Prescott began dating an HIV-positive man, he received a rare offer. He could take a drug that would prevent him from contracting the virus – for free.

This was two months before the BC government agreed to pay for the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drug that effectively protects people from getting HIV.

Prescott was invited to join a targeted PrEP program. Run by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, it aimed to track HIV outbreaks, and offered PrEP free to everyone near an epicentre.

At first, the 24-year-old gay man living in Kelowna, BC, hesitated. After all, his boyfriend had an undetectable viral load; he knew he couldn’t contract the virus from him. But when Prescott realized how few young gay people in his part of the province knew about PrEP, he decided to take it anyway. He wanted a conversation starter.

Among queer youth in Kelowna, BC’s largest city outside Metro Vancouver, Prescott says there’s little chance to learn anything about PrEP.

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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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