BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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STOP HIV/AIDS

HIV rates among injection drug users continue to drop

published on March 24, 2011 in Metro

Harm reduction measures and anti-retroviral therapy are cutting down B.C.’s HIV infection rates among injection drug users, says a new report released Thursday by the Health Ministry.

Provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall released a report revealing several factors associated with the drop in intravenous drug users catching HIV or hepatitis C.

Among the factors mentioned is a therapy Kendall describes as the “current gold standard in HIV treatment” — the highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART).

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STOP HIV/AIDS

New HIV cases drop among injection drug users in BC

published on March 31, 2011 in The Epoch Times

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.

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HIV Clinical Care

ZForecast - March 2011Printer Friendly

March 2011

March 1, 2011

China chooses made-in-BC approach to combat HIV and AIDS worldwide

World's most populous nation embraces treatment as prevention

The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) hosted a Chinese delegation led by Dr. Zunyou Wu last year to share their expertise on the internationally recognized treatment as prevention strategy and collaborate on the development of a similar program for China.As a result, in a landmark announcement last month, China committed to implementing a country-wide HIV/AIDS policy based on the groundbreaking “treatment as prevention” strategy pioneered by the BC-CfE.

“We believe that treatment as prevention is the model of care and containment that will best help China meet its goal of bringing HIV and AIDS under control by 2015,” said Dr. Zunyou Wu, director, National Center for AIDS/ STD Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new policy will call for widespread HIV testing and treatment for all medically eligible individuals to address the significant HIV/AIDS epidemic in China. The program is based on the results of BC-CfE’s research published last summer in The Lancet. Research results showed that administering highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to HIV-positive individuals not only extends their life expectancy, but also makes them dramatically less likely to transmit HIV to others in the community and reduces healthcare costs in the long term.

“This would be the first time that an initiative of this nature is undertaken at the national level by a country that certainly has significant challenges regarding the size of the problem [HIV/AIDS] and other social and cultural complexities,” said Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the BC-CfE and pioneer of the treatment as prevention strategy. This strategy has been endorsed internationally by WHO and UNAIDS.

Montaner noted that with this announcement, the Chinese government has sent a clear message that treatment as prevention makes sense for a crosssection of people all over the world.

In China, a reported 740,000 people are infected with HIV and nearly 110,000 people have AIDS.

Montaner was first introduced to Wu’s tremendous work on the expansion of medical programs in China by Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This was followed by discussions at last summer’s International AIDS Conference in Vienna, which eventually led to a visit by a Chinese delegation headed by Wu to the BC-CfE last year. During the two-day workshop, the BC-CfE introduced the delegation to the different components of the treatment as prevention model, how it has worked in B.C. and helped develop potential protocols that could be used in the implementation of a similar program in China.

The workshop was also attended by former Premier Gordon Campbell to provide support from the B.C. government to the BC-CfE in their efforts to help China combat HIV in their country.

B.C. is the first jurisdiction to implement treatment as prevention. In 2010, the B.C. government announced it would invest $48 million over four years in the BC-CfE-led Seek and Treat pilot project to expand HIV testing and treatment to hard-to-reach individuals in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and Prince George.

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Insite, BC-CfE research featured in New York Times

published on February 8, 2011

New York Times photojournalist Ed Ou interviews BC-CfE director Dr. Julio Montaner in January. Vancouver’s innovative approach to HIV prevention, based on harm reduction and the BC-CfE’s pioneering “treatment as prevention” strategy, is profiled today in a New York Times feature and photo essay.

The article quotes BC-CfE researchers Dr. Julio Montaner and Dr. Thomas Kerr, who describe in detail the medical and social benefits of Insite – Vancouver’s supervised injection facility – and the scientific rationale for expanding antiretroviral treatment through the STOP HIV/AIDS pilot project.

“By offering clean needles and aggressively testing and treating those who may be infected with HIV, Vancouver is offering proof that an idea that was once controversial actually works: Widespread treatment, while expensive, protects not just individuals but the whole community,” writes Times reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr.

The full article is available here.

To view a gallery of photos taken at Insite by Times photographer Ed Ou, click here.

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STOP HIV/AIDS

ZForecast - July/August 2010Printer Friendly

July/August 2010

August 1, 2010

UNAIDS Treatment 2.0 based on made-in-B.C. “treatment as prevention” strategy

A radical new approach to HIV treatment, dubbed “Treatment 2.0,” aims to dramatically increase testing andtreatment for HIV using the best available diagnostic tools and drugs, announced Michel Sidibé, executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna from July 18 to 23.

Mr. Sidibé, a world-renowned and longtime advocate of innovative ways to curb the HIV/AIDS epidemic, said Treatment 2.0 will reshape the global response to AIDS. It will help achieve two crucial benefits: a dramatic reduction in AIDS-related deaths and a decrease in new HIV infections.

The lifesaving concept of “treatment as prevention” – developed at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) – provided the building blocks for this new treatment approach. In his speech at the opening session of AIDS 2010, Mr. Sidibé cited the groundbreaking work coming out of B.C. as evidence supporting the UNAIDS’ push for Treatment 2.0 – a global HIV treatment revolution.

“Treatment is a right, treatment is a smart investment. It reduces HIV transmission, TB, and maternal and child deaths,” he told thousands of attendees in a sprawling auditorium onsite and countless others watching via video links worldwide.

AIDS 2010 endorses BC-CfE initiative as key pillar in fight against HIV and AIDS “Thanks to the support of British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, and the dedication of Julio Montaner, the world now knows that treatment as prevention is a reality that works for the three Ps: It works for the patient, it works for the people and it works for the pocket.”

UNAIDS has estimated that if Treatment 2.0 is successfully implemented, it could avert 10 million HIV/AIDS deaths by 2025.

B.C. research inspires Treatment 2.0

Mr. Sidibé’s remarks at AIDS 2010 came soon after the BC-CfE released a study in Vienna showing that the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for HIV patients has halved the number of new HIV diagnoses in B.C. since 1996.

“Dr. Montaner’s study, published in The Lancet, was the strongest confirmation yet that treatment and prevention are two sides of the same coin,” said The Economist. “The study, together with previous work showing that HAART reduces the rate of transmission between discordant couples (in which only one partner is infected) by more than 90%, points to the conclusion that widespread use of antiretroviral drugs helps to explain the 17% fall in the rate of new HIV infections seen around the world between 2001 and 2008.”

In a front-page story, Dr. Montaner, director of the BC-CfE, told The Province newspaper that July 18 was a great day for British Columbia, as the made-in-B.C. initiative put the province at the forefront of the HIV and AIDS response. “While treatment is highly cost-effective on its own merits because it is a life-saving, disease-preventing intervention, it has a multiplier effect on the prevention axis, which makes this a very attractive investment,” he said.

Dr. Montaner stated that expanding HAART coverage will have multiple benefits including decreasing tuberculosis, decreasing the number of orphans and preserving and strengthening health systems in affected countries around the world. “Universal access to care, treatment and prevention is the fundamental building block for maternal and child health. Let me say this once more, there cannot be maternal and child health without universal access,” he said.

G8 fails to fulfill universal access pledge

G8 nations promised in 2005 to fund universal access by 2010, but have not lived up to their commitment. Dr. Montaner noted that his own federal government, led by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has failed to fully fund universal access and missed an opportunity to put the HIV strategy firmly back on track when it largely ignored universal access during recent G8 meetings in Canada.

He noted, however, that France’s First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, has strongly supported treatment as prevention and the need to deliver on the promise of universal access. “We ask her to ensure that her husband, the president of France, becomes a forceful advocate for that position when France hosts next year’s G8 meeting,” he said.

Dr. Montaner added that governments around the world will now say they face a crisis of resources when asked for money to provide funding for universal access, but resources are not the issue. “The challenge is not finding money, but changing priorities,” Dr. Montaner noted. “When there is a Wall Street emergency or an energy crisis, billions upon billions of dollars are quickly mobilized. People’s health deserves a similar financial response and much higher priority.”

Meanwhile, high-level speakers at the conference – including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates – added their thoughts on ways forward to combat HIV and AIDS.

A total of 193 countries were represented at the conference and 19,100 people participated at AIDS 2010, and all were left with a sobering reminder from Dr. Montaner as they left the conference. “As we say farewell to each other and pack our bags to leave Vienna, we must remember that another 7,000 people will become infected today, as they did yesterday and will again tomorrow,” said Dr. Montaner. “This epidemic is our life’s work. Let’s ensure that the epidemic ends, soon and forever.”

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HIV Clinical Care

Feds appeal to highest court to shut down Insite

published on June 25, 2010 in CTV.ca

Canada's highest court will hear a federal government appeal of a lower court ruling that allows British Columbia's landmark supervised drug-injection site to stay open.

The Supreme Court of Canada never releases its reasons for granting or rejecting appeals, but federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has said questions of jurisdiction over the Insite clinic must be resolved.

In January, a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling upheld a lower court decision that provinces, not the federal government, have jurisdiction for health care, and therefore services such as the injection site.

But the judgment was not unanimous, opening the door for the high court appeal. More >>

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Supreme Court to decide B.C. injection clinic's future

published on June 25, 2010 in The Globe and Mail

The future of Vancouver’s supervised drug-injection site, Insite, will be decided in the Supreme Court of Canada.

The court said Thursday that it will decide whether the federal government has the authority to shut down the Downtown Eastside clinic – the first such clinic in North America to allow addicts to inject themselves with prohibited drugs under a nurse’s supervision.

The case has turned into an important jurisdictional struggle between the provincial and federal governments. More >>

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Dr. Julio Montaner on "The Hour"

published on May 21, 2010

BC-CfE director Dr. Julio Montaner visited CBC's "The Hour" on May 20 for an interview with host George Stroumboulopoulos.

Dr. Montaner passionately explained the health benefits of Insite, North America's first supervised injection facility, and called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to include HIV and AIDS on the agenda at the upcoming G8 summit in Muskoka, Ontario.

Click here for the full clip of Dr. Montaner on "The Hour"

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AIDS Research Program

Family wrestles with streets' death grip

published on February 28, 2008 in Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - She is the matriarch of three generations of Keewatin women and girls whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by drugs.

Carol Keewatin, 55, is in a drug treatment centre after fighting an on-and-off drug addiction for 40 years.

Her younger sisters are both dead: Elaine was murdered in 1981 in Regina and Dawn was missing for a year before her body was found, around 1982, in Saskatoon.

Keewatin's two daughters, Dee, 30, and Laura, 29, have lived on the streets of the Downtown Eastside for "many years." More >>

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