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Catalyze action in underserved communities, advance HIV testing and treatment, and fund critical implementation projects to achieve the goal.
TORONTO, Feb. 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — CANFAR, the Canadian AIDS Research Foundation, is unveiling its strategic plan that responds to the significant backlog of new HIV cases across Canada and aims to be a lead partner in the completion of the national HIV program. epidemic until the end of 2025.
Canada saw an increase of 24.9% of new HIV diagnoses in 2022 over 2021, with Saskatchewan and Manitoba leading the country’s new diagnosis rate at 19.0 and 13.0 per 100,000 – compared to the national average of 4.7. This rise in new cases has not been seen in over a decade.
Canada’s HIV epidemic has been largely driven by fitness inequities, shrinking testing facilities, the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of comprehensive education on youth sexual fitness, the toxic drug crisis, and a lack of culturally appropriate testing and analysis. . It is also estimated that about one in ten Canadians living with HIV are unaware of their prestige and have not obtained life-saving antiretroviral therapy. Other barriers that prevent others from getting tested without worry or judgment include stigma, racism, homophobia, and transphobia.
CANFAR’s new strategic plan commits to three priorities:
Increase national awareness among key populations, strategic campaigns in collaboration with community-based organizations from coast to coast;
Increase access to HIV testing and care, by funding new ways to use technology and community-based models to meet people where they are and in ways they can feel safe to get tested and connected to care and treatment.
Fund implementation research, aimed at addressing health and well-being issues faced by Indigenous, African, Caribbean, and Black people, racialized women and other people who inject drugs and other people who inject drugs, in addition to ongoing investment in clinic. research.
Developed in collaboration with a functioning organization that included recommendations decided by experts from establishments such as the National Blood and Sexually Transmitted Infections Laboratory (Public Health Agency of Canada), the National Laboratories of Retrovirology and HIV (Public Health Agency of Canada), CATIE – Canada’s HIV and Hepatitis C Information Source, Dr. Peter Centre, Toronto Head Office, Communities, Alliances and Networks (CAAN), Freddie and COCQ-AIDS, CANFAR’s new strategic plan emphasizes the importance of giving timely and urgent attention to the developing HIV fight in Canada’s epidemic.
Dr. Sean B. Rourke, a scientist at the MAP Center for Urban Health Solutions at St. John’s Hospital. John’s and a long-time advisor to CANFAR, says, “We have the team and we know what we want to do to end the HIV epidemic, however, as a country, we want to focus on scaling up and implementing. It’s all about execution. CANFAR’s new strategic plan takes into account more than four decades of studies and discoveries and sets out a thoughtful, results-oriented plan to make sure no one is left behind. This will ensure that living with HIV or at risk of contracting it can be healthy and thrive. “
CANFAR President Andrew Pringle agrees. I firmly believe that it is possible to end the HIV epidemic in Canada by the end of 2025. We can achieve this through rapid, strategic and coordinated action. He adds: “As a foundation of studies that has existed since the height of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, CANFAR is a leader and a catalyst in our communities’ reaction to the epidemic. “
To achieve its priorities, CANFAR is partnering with CATIE to expand national awareness campaigns to the communities most affected by HIV in Canada today: Indigenous, African, Caribbean and Black, racialized women, and people who inject drugs and ingredients. use. Community consultations for the crusade will begin this spring.
CANFAR will additionally fund several implementation projects in the coming years, that will focus on breaking down barriers to testing and bringing HIV testing to more communities through mobile and self-testing initiatives across Canada. Further, CANFAR is investing in programs for harm reduction and women-centered healthcare in Vancouver and Toronto, respectively. These investments are among several other initiatives CANFAR has helped fund, including I-AM.Health and I’m Ready to Know – both of which provide free HIV self-test kits delivered directly to homes or for pickup at more than 400 locations across Canada – as well as the CANFAR Express Testing Laboratory at the new HQ Toronto.
The Foundation is also set to call for submissions for its 32nd Research Cycle in March 2024, which will include the sophomore awarding of the Christopher Bunting Memorial Research Grant. This comes on the heels of the Foundation’s announcement of the recipients of Research Cycle 31, which included grants for investigating PrEP therapies in people who use substances and inject drugs and adapting women-centred HIV care models for Indigenous women living with HIV, among other investigations.
For more information and to read CANFAR’s new strategic plan, please click here.
About CANFAR
CANFAR is a national, independent organization advancing HIV knowledge and science. Fueled by fundraising, we invest in and foster effective research, build awareness, and cultivate partnerships to share expertise and encourage joint action. We have given more than $26 million in grants to HIV/AIDS research projects. Together, these nearly 575 projects have helped achieve breakthroughs in HIV prevention, testing, access to treatment, combatting stigma, and the search for a cure. In addition, every year, we reach over 1 million young people in Canada with vital information through our national youth HIV and sexual health awareness program, Sexfluent.ca.
About CANFAR’s new strategic plan
CANFAR’s most recent strategic plan outlines the Foundation’s activities over the next 24 months with the goal of ending HIV as an epidemic or public health risk in Canada by the end of 2025. It was developed in 2023 with input from a strategic implementing organization including: Andy Pringle, President, CANFAR; Sean B. Rourke, scientist at the MAP Center for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital; Notisha Massaquoi, Associate Professor, University of Toronto and CANFAR Board Member; Trevor Stratton, Indigenous Leadership Policy Manager, CAAN and CANFAR Board Member; Dr. Paul Sandstrom, Chair of the CANFAR Scientific Advisory Committee; Adrienne Meyers, Head of Quality Unit, National Retrovirology and HIV Laboratories (Public Health Agency of Canada); Osmel Maynes, Director of Philanthropy, Toronto Head Office; Scott Elliott, executive director of the Dr. Peter Center; Jody Jollimore, Executive Director of CATIE; Mathieya Alatini, chief strategist at GSD Strategies Inc. ; Jason Méditerranée, Director of Social Infrastructure, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan; Ken Monteith, Executive Director, COCQ-SIDA; Dr. Caley Shukalek, Freddie’s medical director; Alex Filiatrault, executive director of CANFAR; Roxanne Ma, Vice President of National Extension Programs, CANFAR.
Website: https://canfar. com
SOURCE CANFAR
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