Saskatchewan doctors call for emergency response to HIV crisis

Saskatchewan’s HIV rates are double the national average. Doctors say it’s time for the provincial health ministry to step in.

“People are become ill and dying from a treatable and preventable disease … the time to act is now,” Dr. Stephen Sanche, an infectious disease specialist, said Monday at a news conference held by the Saskatchewan HIV/AIDS Research Endeavour.

The group is demanding the province not only declare a state of emergency over the crisis, but that the costs of all the anti-retroviral treatments for HIV-positive people in the province be covered, regardless of where they live.

First Nations and other indigenous communities have been hit particularly hard; more than 70 per cent of the new HIV cases in 2014 were indigenous people.

Danita Wahpoosewyan, an aboriginal woman from Regina, has been living with HIV for 11 years. She said a tremendous amount of work still needs to be done to fight the stigma associated with being HIV-positive.

“It wasn’t that long ago that I wasn’t allowed to kiss my own grandchildren,” Wahpoosewyan told reporters.

She said her entire family has been affected by the disease, which is deadly if left untreated. She said three of her cousins have died from HIV in the last three years. The problems include lack of access to proper care and people’s unwillingness to disclose their diagnosis, she said.

“It’s a silent killer.”

Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Felix Thomas said while indigenous people are overrepresented in the new cases of HIV, the disease can affect anyone.

“HIV doesn’t care what colour your skin is,” Thomas said, noting that while places like Vancouver have effective HIV strategies (rates have dropped so much in the B.C. city, the HIV/AIDS ward at a local hospital was closed), Saskatoon just recently opened its first HIV hospice.

Thomas said the west side clinic and needle exchange the STC operates is completely funded by the STC without any money or input from the provincial government. He said the province needs to step up to help address the crisis.

“One thing that has been missing is the provincial input,” Thomas said.

Dr. Denise Werker, the province’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, said 72,069 HIV tests were completed in 2015 — a 48 per cent increase from the 48,843 tests done in 2009. That increased testing is part of the reason the rates are on the rise in Saskatchewan, she said. 

“We are testing more people than ever before and in more places than ever before.”

The province has hired 10 registered nurses dedicated to HIV treatment and opened outreach clinics on northern reserves. Werker said the province has invested $4 million annually in the fight against the disease.

“Our HIV rates increased over last year; this is not a surprise. Testing has increased and efforts to reduce stigma have taken hold,” she said.

Doctors like Sanche say more needs to be done.

“This is an emergency. Two people are dying every month. Ten more people are being diagnosed every month,” Sanche said.

The group is urging the health ministry to adopt the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goal to attack the problem. The United Nations recommends increased testing so 90 per cent of people with HIV know their status; making sure 90 per cent of those patients receive the proper anti-viral drugs to treat the disease; and ensuring that 90 per cent of those people have “repressed viral loads” so infection doesn’t spread.

There is no word if the government will adopt the strategy or declare an official state of emergency.

Saskatoon Star Phoenix

~Wakenya Canada