Experts say rising HIV cases highlight need for testing, education on World AIDS Day

The first day of December marks World AIDS Day  — a day dedicated to raising awareness of AIDS and the spread of HIV.

Dr. Shariq Haider, medical director of HIV care at Juravinski Hospital in Hamilton, said he is committed to the World Health Organization’s 2030 target of 95-95-95 rule for HIV elimination.

“What that means is that we want 95 per cent of people living with HIV to know about their diagnosis. Then, we want that 95 per cent group and 95 per cent of them is given ART that’s life-saving,” Haider said.

“Then we want to make sure that 95 per cent of them are adhering to their treatment plan and keeping that virus suppressed.”

The number of new HIV diagnoses in the country has increased over the past two years — and the data tells a more complicated story.

Particularly concerning is the disproportionate representation of vulnerable populations in certain pockets of central Canada.

READ MORE: Downtown Hamilton hate incident prompts strong response from anti-racism advocates

“Those rates are so high that sometimes we start to see rates we see in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Haider said.

“When you’re talking about testing, a lot of those testing in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are occurring in people at younger ages.”

Haider said the number of undiagnosed cases is also of concern.

“Because of the stigma that still dogs the infection today, some people don’t think they’re at risk, they don’t realize that they need to be tested regularly,” Haider said.

“So they may not know they have the infection.”

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, three years ago more than 65,000 Canadians were living with HIV, while 11 per cent of those cases went undiagnosed.

A concerning statistic when put into context with the roughly 1,800 new transmissions recorded in 2022.

Sean Hosein, science and medicine editor with Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange, said that’s a 15 per cent increase from 2020.

“So transmissions are still happening by and large when somebody knows they have something, they take steps to do something about it,” Hosein said.

Experts say testing, treatment and continued monitoring are important pillars of HIV elimination and working alongside them is raising public awareness.

“It’s education about diagnosis and testing but also breaking the stigma,” Hosein said.

READ MORE: Hamilton city staff propose permanent transit fare assist, steeper discount

When it comes to the younger generation, sexual health educators play an important role.

“There are very real dangers with not equipping our young people with good quality comprehensive sexual health education that they need,” said Jessica Lougheed, assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia.

“With things like TikTok or Instagram where you can have influencers with a large following but without proper credentials who could be putting information out there related to sexuality or safer sex practices that are actually not in line with say what a public health nurse would suggest.”

That type of misinformation is what organization Positive Health Network aims to address.

The group offers HIV education and support across Hamilton, Halton, Haldimand-Norfolk, and Brant.

“A lot of it is handing out information like brochures, pamphlets, condoms – those things are still very much needed,” said Tim McClemont, executive director with Positive Health Network. “For example with youth, we’ll go to McMaster University a lot we do a lot of events, community churches and other about what we’re doing.”

To mark the 37th World AIDS Day — Positive Health Network will hold a vigil at Christ’s Church Cathedral in Hamilton tonight at 6:30 p.m. to honour those in our community living with HIV and those we have lost.

In the meantime, Dr. Haider is optimistic that the rapidly developing research will ultimately lead to the complete elimination of HIV in the not-so-distant future.

He said there’s still room to improve on treatment and treatment as prevention.

“It’s really that 95-95-95 rule because if we can get the virus undetectable we can curb the epidemic globally,” Haider said.

“It’s a multi-modality approach. Then yes – I think hope for a cure is there.”

READ MORE: Halton police search for 13-year-old Oakville boy