Op-ed: On World AIDS Day, infections are up in Canada - NOW Toronto

We have more and better prevention options at our disposal than ever before so why are HIV infection estimates on the rise?

This World AIDS Day (December 1), you’d be forgiven for thinking HIV is no longer a public health threat in Canada. .

The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that HIV infections in Canada climbed by 31 per cent between 2013 and 2018.

But in practice, we have seen more organizations and more health issues competing for a slice of the same pie, resulting in service cuts for community-based HIV programs.

They support people living with HIV to stay on treatment, helping to improve their health and the health of the communities around them.

Some offer free HIV testing in the community, the first step towards referring HIV-negative and HIV-positive people to the prevention or treatment services they need.

Community-based programs are also best positioned to engage individuals in communities that have been marginalized by mainstream healthcare services, including the communities most affected by HIV in Canada: gay and bisexual men, trans women, Indigenous people, African, Caribbean and Black Canadians, and people who use drugs.

These successes haven’t come out of nowhere; they have corresponded with increases in community-based HIV testing, PrEP programs and greater access to HIV treatment and care.

The programs are not expensive when compared to the cost of more HIV infections, which entail a lifetime of daily medication, regular visits to the doctor and a spiralling need to invest in more prevention, testing and treatment programs. .

Mathematical models show that with an increased emphasis on prevention, testing and linkage to treatment and care, we could actually eliminate HIV as a public health threat by 2030