As HIV cases rise across Canada, numbers remain stable for now in northwestern Ontario

While the number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections has increased by 35 per cent across Canada, numbers have remained stable in northwestern Ontario, and health-care workers are focusing primarily on harm reduction services available in the region. It is thanks to

Infection rates in the Thunder Bay District Health Unit (TBDHU) catchment area were higher than the Ontario average from 2018 to 2021, and an outbreak was declared in 2019 following a spike in cases.

While 16 cases were confirmed in 2021 alone, the health department is tracking 16 cases from 2022 to the present.

“Our outbreak has had a huge impact on homelessness, housing shortages, and drug users. That's why we have a street outreach team here to help individuals get tested.” Street Assistance said Candice Belanger, Harm Reduction and Sexual Health Program Manager. For TBDHU.

Still, the national trends are alarming. According to the government, there were 2,434 new HIV infections last year. Latest Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) report.

“This is a dramatic upward shift, and drastic action is needed to change this,” said Thunder Bay resident Ken Miller, executive director of the Canadian AIDS Society.

Watch | HIV infection rates are falling globally, but rising in Canada

HIV infection rates are falling globally, but rising in Canada

Between 2010 and 2021, the number of new HIV infections worldwide fell by almost 22%, a new study in the HIV medical journal Lancet suggests. But in Canada, the opposite is happening, with a 35% increase in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Ontario is preparing for Shut down 10 consumption sites under surveillancedue to new regulations regarding proximity to schools and child care centers, including Pass 525 in Thunder Bay.

These facilities offer a number of services, including needle exchange programs, which health care workers say are essential to preventing the spread of blood-borne infections.

“Harm reduction programs play a very important role in HIV prevention,” Belanger said. “Meeting people where they are and building those relationships really helps [to] Understand what people need. ”

Miller would like to see harm reduction services integrated into the state's efforts. New Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub Modelhe also calls for policy changes at the federal level to better support people living with HIV.

“The law needs to be amended now.”

In July, a coalition of 20 organizations, including the Canadian AIDS Society, submitted two proposals to Health Canada asking:

• An additional $7.2 million annually over five years to hire 100 additional staff to community-based organizations serving people with or at risk for HIV and hepatitis C.
• Provides $150 million in bilateral funding over three years to states and territories to help meet the government's goal of eliminating HIV as a public health threat by 2030.

“This is something that we all think is a meaningful way forward,” Miller said of the proposals.

CBC has asked Health Minister Mark Holland for comment on the two proposals. A spokesperson said a response will be sent on Friday and this article will be updated at that time.

In Canada, people are legally required to disclose their HIV status if there is a realistic chance of infecting others. Failure to do so could result in criminal charges and being added to the sex offender registry.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Department of Justice We reviewed this law last year.Miller said nothing has changed.

“These laws disproportionately impact people of lower socio-economic status,” he said. “Canada needs to stop criminalizing people with HIV. We need legal reform today.”

Call for inclusive messages about HIV

In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, highest rate of HIV infection According to the PHAC report, in Japan, the rates are 19.4 and 19.3 per 100,000 people, respectively. Nationally, the main cause of HIV is sexual contact, but in Manitoba the main cause is drug injection with contaminated needles.

Mr Miller said it was important to recognize how HIV trends had changed. Since its popularity in the 1980s.

“This has been seen as a homosexual disease for a long time, so everything was really pointing in that direction,” Miller said. “The message we're sending out is missing the point in the communities that need it.”

For example, in 2020, there were an estimated 15.2 new cases per 100,000 Indigenous people in Canada, compared to 4 new cases per 100,000 Canadians. According to the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange.

Meanwhile, indigenous women accounted for 85 percent of all women. Mention of Manitoba HIV Program From 2018 to 2021.

“We have to assume that these statistics may be relative to some extent to what we see in Thunder Bay,” Miller said. “We know that Thunder Bay has a large Indigenous community, a large population of drug users, and a large population of unhoused people.”

Sending harm reduction workers into communities has proven to be an effective way to reach more clients at risk for HIV, Belanger said.

“For people living on the streets, it is not easy to access the services of our office here, so we are making sure that they have the opportunity to access testing in other locations where it is more easily available. ” she said.

Miller said creating more comprehensive messages about HIV that target a wider range of demographics is also important to address all people at risk.

Importance of testing, harm reduction supplies

Ontario's Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU) has confirmed seven people with HIV this year, compared to 19 the year before, the highest rate ever.

NWHU medical officer of health Kit Yong-hoon said the top two risk factors for infection are people who don't use condoms and people who use drugs.

Similar to TBDHU, increasing public education and harm reduction efforts are helping to stabilize case numbers, she said.

Enabling people to get tested early and receive treatment as soon as possible has reduced the spread of infection and allowed those who test positive to “live healthy and long lives,” Yonghoon said.

Harm reduction tools such as needles, sterile drug equipment, and condoms have all been “proven to be effective in reducing the spread of HIV.”

But equally important is ensuring that people are supported in both using and returning drug equipment, so that drug equipment does not end up in the community.

“A big advantage of harm reduction programs in general, and needle distribution programs in particular, is that they connect clients to other services, such as primary care services and sexual health services, to get them tested for infectious diseases, including HIV, and to link them further. Please take him to a treatment service,” Younghoon said.

Needle exchange programs will continue to be offered in the region thereafter. Thunder Bay supervised consumption site shuts down at end of MarchMr Miller said concerns remained about what the suspension of services would mean for the most vulnerable people in the community.

On both the HIV and opioid crises, he said, “We need the political will to stand up and stop the division and start doing what's right for people rather than what's right for votes.”

“Frankly, we're at the point where we're so tired of seeing our friends die.”

Younghoon and Belanger said they want people to remember that HIV testing is free and confidential. For more information, visit the health department's website.