Tara Campbell, right, executive director of Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority gets tested by HIV Coordinator Tosin Adebayo Wednesday afternoon (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

National HIV Testing Day

Local health authority encourages HIV testing

Jun 26, 2019 | 5:30 PM

Thursday will mark National HIV Testing Day across Canada.

However in Prince Albert one local health authority is kicking things off a day early.

“We know that if people engage early in testing, they know their HIV status, then they’re more likely to have the opportunity to engage in care early enough,” Dr. Nnamdi Ndubuka, medical health officer for NITHA said.

The doctor said by being able to begin treatment earlier people can be prescribed medications that can supress the virus and its progression. This early treatment can also make it less likely the virus will be transmitted to another person.

“It is no longer a death sentence, it is manageable, just like any other chronic disease condition,” Ndubuka said.

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In the area which NITHA oversees, Ndubuka said the biggest challenge in combating the virus is being able to connect people in most isolated communities with the proper services. According to NITHA in 2018 there were nine people in their area diagnosed with the virus, which is a 25 per cent decrease from 2017 where they saw 12 new diagnoses. In regards to testing the most recent numbers available are from 2017, where testing increased by 15 per cent from the previous year.

When it comes to testing, Ndubuka said there is still much work to be done, as one in five Canadians who are living with HIV are not aware of their status.

“Stigma is still [a] very significant barrier to testing, particularly in the North here,” he said.

To overcome this problem, Ndubuka said they are working with leaders in communities including elders to help normalize testing with the goal being to one day see everybody getting themselves tested.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn