aids
Injection site safe: Director
By DHARM MAKWANA, QMI AGENCYContinued criticism from the U.S. government on Vancouver's supervised injection site is beyond a joke, said one of the program's directors.
The 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report released this week by the U.S. Department of State recommends the government of Canada press Vancouver to eliminate Insite and drug paraphernalia distributions programs, such as clean-needle exchanges, to come in line with international protocols.
Battling prison disease
By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
Drugs find their way into prisons, despite all efforts to plug supply lines. And for many inmates, the most dangerous part of life inside is sharing jury-rigged needles.
Lack of knowledge, misery and addictions combine in a sometimes lethal mix, but Canadian prisons do not permit distribution of clean needles -- meaning health risks soar for an already at-risk population.
Failure to aid drug users drives HIV spread: study
By Kate Kelland, Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - More than 90 percent of the world's 16 million injecting drug users are offered no help to avoid contracting AIDS, and governments that ignore them risk a spiraling public health crisis, drugs experts said on Monday.
A "critical health problem" is growing in places like Russia, China, Malaysia and Thailand, they said, where drug users are a neglected population in the fight against AIDS and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes it.
Treatment drive in British Columbia produces modest declines in diagnoses and viral loads
Gus Cairns, AidsMap NewsAn expansion in the numbers of people with HIV in the Canadian province of British Columbia diagnosed and on treatment has started to produce modest reductions in HIV diagnoses and in the average viral load in the community, the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) heard today.
The trends seen were similar to those reported from San Francisco in a similar presentation the previous day – see this report.
However Dr Julio Montaner of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, the prime mover behind this strategy, told the conference that the ‘second wave’ of increased HAART (highly active antiretroviral treatment) coverage actually started prior to the adoption of this strategy, which in itself does not appear to have further increased access.
The lack of needles and the damage done
If needle exchange works in Canadian cities big and small, then why do we refuse to implement the practice in our prisons?Andre Picard, Globe and Mail
Providing clean needles to intravenous drug users is a broadly accepted and successful public health measure: When you reduce needle-sharing, you prevent transmission of blood-borne illnesses like hepatitis C and HIV-AIDS.
When Ideology Trumps Evidence
The Harper Government’s "tough on crime" stance ignores reality in favour of dogma.Johannes Wheeldon, The Mark
In the latest round of the Harper Government’s quest to shut down Insite, the Conservatives will challenge the decision of the B.C. Court of Appeal that would allow Vancouver’s supervised injection facility to remain open.
Saint John leads addiction fight
Editorial: Telegraph-JournalWhile the federal government is locked in an ideological battle to shut down a safe drug injection site in Vancouver, community leaders in Saint John are taking a more pragmatic view. The test of any addiction treatment program is the results it generates for addicts and society - and based on the success of methadone treatment in Saint John, safe injection may one day be employed as an option.
Re: ‘Recipe for a riot,’ Letters to the editor, Feb. 9.
The prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C is 10 to 20 times higher in the prison population than in the general population. Most prisoners are eventually returned to their families and communities, where they could spread diseases they might not even know they are carrying.
Public health is but one of the concerns. Another is cost — and the fact is that needle-exchange programs are far more cost-efficient than treating patients with incurable, infectious diseases. If there were ever a recipe for short-sighted idiocy the “Recipe for a riot” letter certainly fits the bill.
Wayne Phillips,
Educators For Sensible Drug Policy (EFSDP)
Hamilton, Ont.
HIV outreach a good step
By Marilyn Callahan, Times ColonistRe: "HIV treatment takes to streets," (Feb. 5).
AIDS Vancouver Island applauds the B.C. government's announcement last week of its investment in the "Seek and Treat" program. This program will find people who are at high risk of HIV, encourage them to get tested and help them access treatment.
While there have been enormous strides in treating the HIV virus, it remains true that many people are vulnerable to contracting it.
In fact, it is estimated that 27 per cent of those living with HIV are unaware that they have it.
Further, for some people with the virus, accessing treatment can be enormously challenging.
B.C. reaches out to most vulnerable HIV patients with $48-million program
VANCOUVER -- The B.C. government announced a $48-million pilot project Thursday to find and treat sex trade workers and injection drug users who are undiagnosed or untreated for HIV in Prince George and Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
The four-year program, called Seek and Treat, was hailed as the first of its kind in Canada and is believed to be the first internationally.
"Seek and Treat promises to decrease HIV and AIDS-related suffering and further prevent the spread of HIV," Health Minister Kevin Falcon told a news conference.
