hiv

Report drawing on experience of inmates calls for needle exchange for prisons

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 8:06am
By Helen Branswell Medical Reporter (CP)
 
TORONTO — A new report calls for the establishment of needle and syringe distribution programs in Canada's prisons, warning the high rate of bloodborne infections in prisons is a public health issue that affects all of society.
 
The report, from the Canadian HIV-AIDS Legal Network, said there is evidence from other countries that the programs reduce transmission of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C among inmates and do so without adding to levels of institutional violence.
 
"People in our communities currently have access to needle and syringe programs. Therefore, people in prison should have the same access to clean needles and syringes," the organization said.
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Tories hold science in contempt

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 9:01am
By Dr. Evan Wood, Special to QMI Agency
 
 
The recent British Columbia Court of Appeal decision that has allowed Vancouver's supervised injecting facility for illicit drug users, known as Insite, to remain open is a victory for the scientific research, the people who use this health-care facility and all Canadians who are concerned about reducing the harms associated with drugs in our society.
 
Rigorous, peer-reviewed research studies published in the world's leading medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, are conclusive: Insite helps reduce publicly discarded needles, HIV transmission and fatal overdose rates, and dramatically improves uptake of addiction treatment.
 
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Support for safe injection sites

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 8:44am
By Tara Brosnan, The McGill Daily
 
A public health organization has voiced support for supervised injection sites in Quebec in a recent publication drawing from studies that examined Insite Vancouver, North America’s first supervised injection site.

The 2009 report from the Institut national de santé publique du Quebec (INSPQ) pointed to positive benefits such as minimizing disease transmission and overdose-related deaths, as well as providing injection drug users with access to health care as reasons for the recommendation.

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Medically supervised injection site stays open

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 10:19am
By Kate Adams, BayToday.ca
 
International AIDS Society News Release

Geneva, Switzerland - The International AIDS Society (IAS) today welcomed a British Columbia court's ruling on Friday dismissing the federal government's effort to close Vancouver's medically supervised injection site, emphasizing the programme's proven track record of attracting some of the most marginalized and difficult to serve individuals who are addicted to drugs and decreasing risk behaviors that lead to the transmission of HIV and other blood borne pathogens such as hepatitis C.

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Fewer HIV patients becoming drug-resistant: B.C. study

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 6:57am
By Denise Ryan, Vancouver Sun
 
The number of HIV patients who develop drug-resistant infections is dropping dramatically in B.C. as a result of improved treatments, says the author of a newly published study on the issue.
 
“This is good news, with big implications,” said Dr. Richard Harrigan of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.
His study, published in the Jan. 1 edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases, reports that between 1996 and 2008, there has been a twelve-fold decrease in drug resistance.
 
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Budget Hits Will 'Basically Gut' AIDS Vancouver

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Mon, 12/21/2009 - 8:49am
Lower Mainland HIV service groups say government funding cuts will end up costing public more.
By Tom Sandborn, TheTyee.ca
 
The Vancouver Coastal Region Health Authority chose World Aids Day to announce it was cutting funding for community services to people with the HIV virus and AIDS.
Three weeks later, B.C.'s minister of health has declined to discuss the cuts with The Tyee, and health authority spokespeople say only administration costs will be trimmed without any impact on direct service delivery.
But local front line workers and experts in the HIV/AIDS field say that the cuts will slam clinical services, leading to more disease and less effective treatment, and end up costing taxpayers more down the road.
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Bill to ease sale of HIV drugs passes vote

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Thu, 12/03/2009 - 12:00am

CBC News

A bill that would make it easier to sell cheap HIV drugs to developing countries has passed second reading in the House of Commons.

Members of Parliament voted 143-127 on Wednesday in favour of sending Bill C-393 to committee.

New Democrat MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis sponsored the bill, which is designed to reform Canada's five-year-old access-to-medicines law.

Under Bill C-9, passed in May 2004, generic drug makers in Canada must obtain a special licence each time they want to sell a cheaper, generic version of a patented medicine to a developing country. They also have to pay royalties on any such sales to the patent-holding drugmakers, and the licence is good for only two years.

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First Nations at higher risk of HIV/AIDS

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 11:04am

By: Colleen Kimmett, The Tyee

Aboriginal people in Canada are infected with HIV/AIDS at a rate more than three times that of the rest of the population -- and without addressing the root causes like poverty, substance abuse and domestic violence, it's only going to get worse.

That was the message at a panel discussion in Vancouver this morning, held to kick of Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week and recognize World AIDS Day.

But stigma, and lack of access to health services, makes it difficult for many aboriginal people to get the help they need, said Art Zoccole, chair of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network.

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Fixed needle exchange saved lives, cut AIDS

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Sun, 11/22/2009 - 5:48pm
By Karen Dennis

Victoria AIDS Resource and Community Service Society has operated a mobile needle exchange for more than six years. This was to enhance the fixed site and to reach those who did not access the fixed site exchange.

Since the closure of AIDS Vancouver Island's fixed site, we wonder about those who are not accessing the mobile services and where they are seeking harm-reduction supplies and information.

The Nov. 17 article said there has been a decline in substance users testing positive for HIV/AIDS. It has been a huge concern all along that there are a substantial number of individuals who do not get tested for many reasons. Since the closure of the fixed site, which had nurses regularly providing testing in a non-judgmental way, testing has decreased significantly according to those who use our services and those we work with.

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Needle exchanges cut HIV rates

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 5:52pm
By: Scott Abrahams
 
A report released in Sydney shows needle and syringe programs have proven effective in reducing HIV and hepatitis C infections, with calls for further expansion of the scheme.
The report by the National Centre for HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Return on Investment 2: Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of needle and syringe programs in Australia, found free distribution of injecting equipment in high-risk communities has prevented more than 32,000 new cases of HIV infections and around 100,000 new hepatitis C infections since 2000.
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations executive director Don Baxter said the report shows giving injecting drug users access to needle and syringe programs has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on slowing down HIV and hepatitis C infection rates. Read more »
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