Testing for everyone!

The journey to ending Canada’s HIV epidemic begins with testing.

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...we need to step out of the box and challenge assumptions. To beat HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases we need to make testing easier and dramatically more accessible.


Annie (Kishkwanakwad) Smith St-George
––Algonquin Elder

Game-changing developments in science have made HIV a livable disease. Yet, in recent years new HIV cases in Canada have increased in startling contrast to the downward trend among other G7 countries.

Still, fear of stigma ––being treated badly by healthcare workers, not having a culturally safe place for testing or the appropriate support for the testing, or fears over HIV test confidentiality––remain major barriers to reaching the undiagnosed.

Diagnosing the roughly 9,000 Canadians who don't know they have HIV is critical to helping them access life-extending treatments and preventing further transmission of the disease.


Sean Rourke,
Neuropsychologist & scientist, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions

1in7

Canadians with HIV don't know they have it

Our challenge: reaching the undiagnosed

Those likely most at-risk... men who have sex with men (‘MSM’), black people of African and Caribbean background living in Canada, Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit), people who use and inject drugs, and at-risk youth and women.

1in4

people won’t get tested because they fear being found out and treated differently

Being Indigenous doesn't make you more prone to HIV. Living without
hope does.


Anonymous,
State of Public Health in Canada (2019)

You need to know your HIV status

You can’t rely on symptoms to know whether you have HIV –– you can look and feel perfectly healthy and still carry the virus. Testing is the only way to know for certain - HIV testing options and services are available across Canada, these include community clinics or your family doctor to anonymous testing at a health centre where your name or other identifying information won't be collected.

For more information about services available near you, contact your local public health department or an HIV testing site.

Guys, let's talk about testing!

Young gay men account for 1 in 5 HIV infections, yet few gay or bisexual men are talking about HIV with anyone, even with those closest to them. Regardless of HIV status, we all have a role to play in ending the epidemic.

Talking to your partner about getting tested with minimal weirdness

What else guys might want to know about testing

50%

of gay or bisexual men say they rarely talk about HIV and testing with an intimate partner

40%

of high-risk HIV-negative GBM were not tested for HIV

To reach the undiagnosed, let’s develop and deploy technology that supports equitable access to testing.


Government of Canada Five-Year Action Plan, Accelerating Our Response (2019)

It's time to give HIV the finger!

The World Health Organization recommends countries implement self-testing strategies as a way to reduce the number of people living with undiagnosed HIV. Where Canada has lagged, dozens of countries, including France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S., have already adopted self-testing regulations.

While self-testing kits are yet to be approved for use in Canada, researchers at The MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto launched a study on HIV self-testing kits in August 2019, with the goal of gaining federal approval for their use by the spring of 2020.

Self-testing technology could remove many of the barriers people face to getting tested for HIV, including lack of access to a health-care provider, travel and wait times and concerns about confidentiality.


Len Tooley, Evaluation & Advancement Director, Community Based Research Centre, Vancouver

55%

more HIV infections detected through self-testing over local testing services

70%

of participants in a self-testing study who learned of positive results, sought treatment

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I remember meeting some guys who would just say, “I’m positive, I’m HIV positive,” end of story, they didn’t flinch, they didn’t show any shame. To me those people were my heroes. I wanted so much to be like them.