STOP HIV/AIDS

The opioid epidemic has proven to be one of the most trying public health problems since the HIV/AIDS crisis. Some believe the lessons learned during the multi-decade AIDS crisis can be used to help combat the opioid overdose epidemic. As Vancouver has been at the forefront of the deadly opioid epidemic, programs like BOOST Collaborative […]

The opioid crisis continues to be one of B.C.’s most pressing health issues and now as Aaron McArthur reports, experts who were on the frontlines of the HIV/AIDS epidemic are using their knowledge to help stem the tide of overdose deaths.Today’s Global News Hour at 6 Health Matters is brought to you by Pharmasave.

This Saturday, federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor will be in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to visit ground zero of the worst public-health crisis in decades. In British Columbia, people are dying of drug overdose at a rate of almost four per day. Across Canada, more people are dying than at the height of the HIV-AIDS

Initiating combination anti-HIV therapy (ART) can greatly reduce the amount of HIV in the blood (viral load). Over time, as the viral load continues to fall, in the majority of people it reaches a very low level that cannot be accurately assessed using routine laboratory tests. Such low viral load levels are commonly called “undetectable.”