Funds for HIV programs amid rising cases

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This article was published 01/12/2023 (694 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than half a million dollars in provincial funds is being spent on HIV programs as the provincial government announced a partnership with Indigenous agencies on mobile treatment and plans to create a post-doctoral fellowship in honour of a local AIDS medicine pioneer.

Manitoba is planning to fully cover HIV/AIDS medications for those who don’t have drug coverage under provincial or federal health plans and is “working to expedite” that pledge, with more information to be publicly announced in the coming months, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Friday. The dome at the provincial legislative building was lit up red to mark World AIDS Day.

Acknowledging rising rates of HIV in Manitoba, where HIV cases here were higher than ever last year, the health minister said Manitoba must do more to reduce barriers for Manitobans living with HIV/AIDS.

The $527,000 in provincial funding includes funding for the Manitoba HIV Program and about $271,000 for an Indigenous-run mobile clinic aimed at preventing blood-borne infections. The mobile care service is run by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre. The new mobile care service will provide access to antiretroviral therapy.

Bernadette Smith, minister of housing, addictions, and homelessness, repeated the government’s promise to open a supervised drug consumption site in Winnipeg, to cheers from advocates who were gathered at a World AIDS Day news conference at the legislative building.

Manitoba’s rates of HIV are nearly five times the Canadian average, and new cases have more than doubled since 2018, reaching record highs in 2022. Unlike other places in Canada, HIV is spreading in Manitoba more frequently among heterosexual individuals, women and people who inject drugs such as meth, said Kimberly Templeton, program lead with the Manitoba HIV Program.

More women than men are now diagnosed with HIV in Manitoba, the latest provincial surveillance report reveals. The annual report for 2022 was published Friday. It said higher rates of people are getting tested and the test positivity rate is increasing.

There were 196 newly diagnosed cases of HIV (102 females and 93 males) — representing a 36 per cent increase in the number of new HIV diagnoses.

Starting in fall 2024, postdoctoral candidates in HIV research can benefit from the new Dr. John Richard (Dick) Middleton Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship in honour of the longtime activist and gay doctor who was treating and educating HIV/AIDS patients when others wouldn’t. Smith died last month.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca