This past year was an incredibly impactful one for CANFAR’s leadership in ending HIV/AIDS in Canada.
At the International AIDS Conference in Montreal in July, the federal government announced an $8M investment in the rollout of self-testing kits across Canada and an additional $9.9M investment to expand community-based testing initiatives in Northern, Remote and Indigenous (NRI) communities. CANFAR was engaged in and supported both Dr. Sean Rourke, CANFAR’s Strategic Implementation Consultant, and his leadership of HIV self-testing initiatives as well as the community-driven work of Dr. Paul Sandstrom, a member of CANFAR’s Scientific Advisory Committee and Director at the National HIV & Retrovirology Laboratory.
Our first express testing laboratory officially opened at the new men’s health clinic HQ Toronto, providing state-of-the-art machines for completely accurate and rapid HIV test results.
Our first express testing laboratory officially opened at the new men’s health clinic HQ Toronto, providing state-of-the-art machines for completely accurate and rapid HIV test results. Individuals diagnosed with HIV at HQ started treatment within 24 hours of diagnosis. The HQ clinic uses a status-neutral approach to care, meaning that all service users will be linked to appropriate treatment and services regardless of their HIV testing results.
But there’s more to be done – and we can’t do it alone. We need your help to raise $1 million to accelerate progress towards reaching our CANFAR 2025 mission. We have all the necessary tools so we must be steadfast in fulfilling our blueprint to eradicate new HIV transmissions in Canada in the next three years, through our key areas of priority.
- Support the roll-out of self-testing kits across Canada to all who need access
- Support the implementation of Rapid HIV Testing across Canada
- Engage with youth around HIV prevention and fighting stigma
- Support underserved and key affected communities, including Black, Indigenous and women
- Fund critical HIV research in Canada
We have come so far in the 35 years since CANFAR’s inception. But we still have an uphill battle to fight to get our country’s response to the HIV epidemic back on track after the coronavirus pandemic – so we can finally end new cases of HIV in Canada by 2025.
