Experts call for renewed public education to address rising HIV rates

As HIV rates increase in Ottawa and across Canada, experts are calling for new public education campaigns. CTV’s Shaun Vardon reports.

In a country of over 40 million people, the HIV-positive population in Canada is small, approximately 62 thousand as of 2020, but that number is now growing despite education and prevention campaigns.

In Ottawa, HIV cases are on the rise after a few years of declines. There is still a stigma associated with a positive test, and that can deter many from finding out if they are infected.

Alex Johnston has been dealing with HIV for over four decades; his partner was one of the first people tested and diagnosed with the disease in 1985.

Johnston avoided getting tested for years, fearing his insurance and health benefits would be cancelled. For years, the stigma surrounding HIV has kept many from getting tested.

Even today, with the disease no longer a death sentence, but a chronic condition with many treatment options available, people fear hearing that they have tested positive for HIV. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) estimates 87 per cent of those diagnosed are in treatment and 95 per cent of those have suppressed viral loads, which doctors say makes the virus undetectable, un-transmittable and prevents it from becoming AIDS.

“Everybody should be getting tested whether they think they are at risk or not,” Johnston said. “It’s just really frustrating that it continues; it’s something that is easily treated.”

Patrick O’Byrne, a nurse practitioner and professor of nursing at the University of Ottawa, says education and awareness is key to fighting stigma and increasing the number of people tested.

“The stigma side is our major barrier. People are terrified to be diagnosed. They are reprimanded, excluded from friends, family and loved ones. People get these infections; they are perfectly normal, they don’t touch who you are, they are just a medical condition,” O’Byrne said. “It’s probably, actually, one of our biggest reasons that we have transmission is someone does not want to get tested and they are afraid to tell other people or tell a previous partner because they are going to get mad, or they are going to try to shame them online.”

Today, treatment for HIV can be as simple as an injection twice a year or a daily pill that reduces the level of the virus in your blood so that it is not detectable and can not be transmitted to others.

“Let’s all come together. Public Health means it affects everyone the general public, let’s just normalize it,” O’Byrne said. “You test, you test positive let’s treat you, you test negative let’s give you some prevention and move forward,”

If you think you might have been exposed to any Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) you can get tested by a doctor, a nurse practitioner or go to the Ottawa Public Health’s Sexual Health Clinic. There are even online options available, like Get A Kit, a program offered by uOttawa that supplies free tests for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, Hepatitis C and HIV.