B.C. is the only province where the rate of new HIV infections is falling steadily and markedly. B.C. is also the only province that offers highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) free of charge and aggressively promotes its use.?
Coincidence? Not at all.?
New research published in Wednesday?s edition of the medical journal Public Library of Science One shows that for every 10-per-cent increase in the number of HIV-positive patients taking HAART, new HIV diagnoses fell 8 per cent ? pretty close to a perfect correlation.?
These are some of the most compelling data to date demonstrating the soundness of the ?treatment as prevention? theory, an approach conceived at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV-AIDS and now being embraced worldwide.?
Treatment as prevention ? or TaP for short, because in the world of HIV-AIDS, acronyms are de rigueur ? is so successful, from Zimbabwe to Abbotsford, that policy-makers now talk openly about the possibility of freezing the epidemic in its tracks and creating an AIDS-free generation.?
As is too often the case though, Canadians are slow to embrace Canadian innovation.?
Consider that a young man diagnosed today as HIV-positive at age 20 and placed on HAART can expect to live to age 73, a life expectancy near normal.?
By taking a cocktail of medication that suppresses replication of the virus, this man will have little likelihood of passing it on to his sexual partner(s).?
That, of course, is the goal: To stop new infections, in addition to keeping those who are already infected from falling prey to killer opportunistic infections.?
Development of an AIDS vaccine is proving to be bedevilling, so TaP remains the closest thing we have. Of course, it is an adjunct, not a replacement for other preventive actions such as use of condoms and harm-reduction measures like supervised drug injection.?
Treating HIV-positive pregnant women with HAART is nearly 100-per-cent effective in preventing transmission of the AIDS virus to their babies. In discordant couples ? where one partner is infected and the other is not ? infection rates fall 95 per cent if the HIV-positive partner takes HAART. But if treatment as prevention is going to be fully effective, it is essential to get as many HIV-positive people as possible on it.?
For that to happen, two measures are required : Universal testing and free treatment.
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