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Saskatchewan’s HIV transmission rate in 2021 was approximately 4.5 times the national rate recorded in 2020.
Vidya Reddy, the APSS Education Coordinator, portrays an out-of-office AIDS Program South Saskatchewan office on Monday, May 30, 2022 in Regina. Photo by KAYLE NEIS / Regina Leader-Post
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Agencies say Saskatchewan needs a new plan to manage HIV after reporting a record number of new cases in 2021.
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Vidya Reddy, education coordinator for AIDS South Saskatchewan, said the 237 cases reported last year should prompt the provincial government to consider new investments to curb the rate of transmission, which is by far the highest. high of Canada.
“We’ve been following any strategy we had until COVID-19 and it hasn’t worked,” Reddy said.
Vidya Reddy believes testing is a key part of the solution. Photo by KAYLE NEIS / Regina Leader-Post
The Public Health Agency of Canada has not yet released HIV data for 2021, but the Saskatchewan transmission rate this year is about 4.5 times the national average recorded in 2020. The proportion varies from year to year. but Saskatchewan is constantly leading the country in new per capita diagnoses.
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Its epidemic is also unique because it is motivated primarily by injecting drug use, not sex. The province also recently reported cases of babies born with HIV, which is considered a setback after years of preventing these infections.
Saskatchewan launched a four-year strategy to control HIV in 2010 after years of rising cases. Now, Reddy and other advocates believe the province needs a new one based on education, testing, prevention, and addressing the socioeconomic conditions that allow the virus to thrive.
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“We need a strategy that is effective for what our new reality is,” said Cheryl Barton, a spokeswoman for Persons Living with AIDS Network in Saskatchewan.
StarPhoenix requested an interview with Health Minister Paul Merriman last week and was told it was unavailable.
Instead, the Ministry of Health issued a statement saying it is concerned about HIV rates and noting that the original HIV strategy involves nearly $ 6 million in ongoing funding to support the programs.
Kayla DeMong, executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon, said she wasn’t surprised to see the record numbers.
He said HIV in Saskatchewan is rooted in poverty. Many PHR clients, formerly AIDS Saskatoon, are homeless and struggle to follow up and take medications that allow people with HIV to live long, healthy lives. DeMong said housing should be a key part of an HIV response.
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Prairie Harm Reduction has three times asked the government to fund its $ 1.3 million supervised drug use site on 20th Street West in Saskatoon. DeMong said the price of these housing and harm reduction programs pales in comparison to the cost of HIV drugs and treatments.
“It may seem like a high price at first, but what it really means is saving millions of dollars,” DeMong said.
Kayla DeMong, the new CEO of Prairie Harm Reduction. Photo by Michelle Berg / Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Reddy noted that HIV testing rates fell in 2020 and did not recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2021. He said the expansion of HIV self-tests, which can be done without the supervision of a medical professional, could be part of closing that gap.
“Unless we catch up with this test rate and pass these test figures and try to provide access to HIV testing to anyone out there undiagnosed, we won’t be able to have a complete picture,” Reddy said.
Barton, whose organization runs an HIV site in Saskatoon, believes a range of support is needed, from harm reduction to peer tutoring. He said the COVID-19 pandemic caused many people to lose touch with services.
Cheryl Barton says the challenges facing people with HIV grew during the pandemic. Photo by Matt Smith / Saskatoon StarPhoenix
“There are a lot of people who don’t take their medications,” Barton said.
“We all knew in this community as service providers that the numbers would come out of the woodwork eventually.”
Outgoing Sask. NPD leader Ryan Meili said he supports a new strategy on HIV and added that he believes the old one was not enough.
“We have never seen a response to this disease in terms of funding or programming that is proportional to the level of the problem and the cost,” he said.
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Trapped: Drugs lead to Sask HIV emergence
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Saskatchewan reports a record number of HIV cases in 2021
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