(File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Derek Craddock

WORLD AIDS DAY

Raising awareness about treatment and prevention during World AIDS Day

Dec 1, 2023 | 12:00 PM

Awareness, treatment, and prevention are just some of the messages being brought forward during World AIDS Day on Friday.

The annual day, which first came about in 1988, not only brings awareness to HIV but works to erase the stigma and remember those lost to HIV and AIDS.

According to data from 2022 from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), there were 1,833 newly diagnosed cases of HIV that year which was up 24.9 per cent from 2021. In Saskatchewan, the diagnosis rate per 100,000 people is 19, the highest in the country.

“Every other day, there’s a new HIV transmission in Saskatchewan. (It’s) the province with the third highest number of HIV infections which is behind Ontario and Quebec,” said Sean Hosein, Science and Medicine editor at CATIE (Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange).

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“Saskatchewan has the highest HIV diagnosis rate of any province in Canada, an estimated 77 per cent of people with HIV in Saskatchewan know their status while the Canadian average is 90, and so that gives you an overall picture.”

Since 1990, CATIE has helped deliver important information to help people make informed decisions about their health when it comes to HIV and AIDS.

Hosein noted that the common ways HIV is transmitted is through sexual contact or shared drug needles. That’s why education around prevention and treatment is vital, adding Saskatchewan is actually ahead of the pack.

“Saskatchewan is one of the best provinces in Canada for linking people to HIV treatment once they’ve been diagnosed, and that’s at 90 per…which is higher than the Canadian average of 87 per cent,” he said.

Currently, there is a variety of treatment options available including different pills and injectables with Hosein noting that next year there will be another injection available that can dramatically reduce the risk of HIV.

Hosein added that an important part of HIV prevention is knowing your status.

“Whether you’re negative or positive and there’s options. You can go to clinics, a doctor’s office, but you can also get an HIV self-test kit that’s available from CATIE.”

World AIDS Day also marks the beginning of Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week. The Canadian Institute of Health Research estimated that in 2020, almost 6,500 Indigenous people were living with HIV, representing 10.3 per cent of all people with HIV in Canada. That year there were 276 new HIV infections among First Nations people, which represented 18.2 per cent of all new infections.

In Saskatchewan, different events will be taking place to commemorate World AIDS Day including a candlelight vigil at Carpenters Church in Saskatoon.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com