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The
HIV/AIDS eNews is published by the British Columbia Persons With AIDS
Society. This publication is a compilation of various articles
collected from numerous news sources. Opinions and information
expressed are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those
of the Society. |
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Ou+doorsmen
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Ou+doorsmen is a new monthly social group for gay HIV+ guys who enjoy being active.
The Ou+doorsmen first activity will take place 12-2pm, April 10 at Cliffhanger, an indoor climbing wall facility in Vancouver (670 Industrial Avenue).
Other activities planned for this year include Grouse zip-line, ice skating, hiking at Mount Gardiner and Killarney Lake Loop on Bowen Island, curling, kayaking and more. |
For more information and to register, contact outdoorsmen@yahoo.ca |
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Aging Gracefully
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Join us Wednesday, March 31st from 6 to 8 pm for a community forum at the Chateau Granville Hotel (2nd floor) under the auspices of Gilead Sciences, organized by BCPWA, and featuring Dr Marianne Harris of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV / AIDS, Dr. Greg Bondy and Dr. Iain Mackie.
This will be a panel discussion about aging and HIV, and this event is open to persons living with HIV and any other interested participants. |
There will be a question-and-answer period, and a buffet-styled dinner is served at 6 pm.
RSVP (before March 28): chucko@bcpwa.org or (604)646.5366. |
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Along side a serene lakeside setting, workshop participants will join other HIV +/ HIV -couples, peer leaders and professionals at a weekend designed to strengthen, affirm, and enhance their relationships.
Designed as a both workshop and retreat, couples will be engaged through facilitated discussions, presentations and group work, while still having opportunities for outdoor fun, indoor games, and relaxation.
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Click here for more info or email richardh@bcpwa.org. |
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BCPWA Volunteer Recognition
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Come out and wear yellow to support our BCPWA Volunteers!
When:
Thursday April 29, 2010, 6:00 - 9:30 PM
Where:
Hotel Chateau Granville (1100 Granville Street) |
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SUITS
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SUITS is a monthly dinner group for Gay Poz Working Men. Come out to our next event!
Where: Taki’s Taverna (1106 Davie Street)
When: Monday March 29th, 5:30-8:30pm
Please RSVP with Richard at 604-893-2258. |
To learn more about SUITS, click here. |
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Income Tax Returns
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Need help with your income tax return?
We can help you with your return if you make less than $25,000 individual or combined incomes and have a straight forward return without complicated details. |
When:
Every Friday from March 5th to April 30th (excluding Good Friday), 9AM - 4PM.
Sign up at front desk reception or call 604-893-2200 for your 20 minute appointment. Please be prompt for your appointment. No shows will go to the back of the line. |
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AVERAGE JOE'S BOWLING

Come on out for an afternoon of bowling and pool with the Average Joe's social group! Average Joe's is a friendly and supportive group for HIV+ men. No BCPWA membership required! |
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When: Saturday March 20th, 2010, 1-3PM
Where: Commodore Bowling Lanes (838 Granville Street)
Cost: 5$, Limited to 58 participants.
Sign up at Front desk or at Average Joes/AJ's Café events. |
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Battling prison disease
Two women try to keep prisoners safe as they seek risky relief from misery

Sara
Gifford, left, and Erin Gibson with some of the educational materials
they use in running a health program in local prisons.
Photograph by: Darren Stone, Times Colonist, Times Colonist
Drugs
find their way into prisons, despite all efforts to plug supply lines.
And for many inmates, the most dangerous part of life inside is sharing
jury-rigged needles.
Lack
of knowledge, misery and addictions combine in a sometimes lethal mix,
but Canadian prisons do not permit distribution of clean needles --
meaning health risks soar for an already at-risk population.
However,
in Greater Victoria facilities -- William Head Prison, Victoria Youth
Custody Services Centre and Vancouver Island Regional Correctional
Centre -- a two-woman team is fighting disease with education.
"People
are advocating for a needle exchange in prisons, but in the meantime,
we are offering six-week courses," said Erin Gibson, manager of
harm-reduction services for AIDS Vancouver Island, who teaches the
course with health promotions educator Sara Gifford.
In
addition to HIV and hepatitis C prevention, the sessions deal with
topics such as getting tested, living a healthy lifestyle after
diagnosis, preventing sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and
problems resulting from steroid use.
The
wretchedness of prison life can lead to people taking risks, such as
sharing needles made out of ballpoint pens or using needles so blunt
they rip off chunks of skin, according to Under The Skin, a new report
by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, which gives chilling
descriptions of diseases spread by makeshift needles.
"Life is so desperate in prison that, even if they didn't use until they got there, they start using to forget," Gifford said.
"People get to the point that they're willing to take risks," added Gibson.
Much
of the information involves basic safety, such as ensuring anything
that goes in your body during tattooing has not touched someone else's
body.
"And
we identify risks," Gibson said, "whether it's smoking crack, having
sex or not sharing nail clippers or razors because of hep C."
Gibson
and Gifford know those who take the course are a conduit to the larger
prison population, so they hand out armfuls of literature. "We've got
guys that come and want to take the information because there's new
young people on the unit and they don't have that information," Gibson
said.
"HIV and hep C are preventable inside and outside, and people don't deserve to contract these diseases."
The
philosophy behind the course is that everyone deserves access to
information that will keep them healthy and that more than 90 per cent
of those in prison will get out, so it makes more sense to prevent
diseases than wait until they spread to family and community members.
Similar courses are run at some Canadian prisons, but they are unique internationally, according to AIDS Vancouver Island,
However, more than 60 prisons worldwide, in Europe, Asia and the Middle East,
have needle-exchange programs, says the HIV-AIDS Legal Network report.
In those prisons, there is no evidence needles are used as weapons or
that drug use or overdoses increase, it says.
The report says rates of HIV and hep C in prison are 10 to 20 times higher than in the regular population.
The
network was to take its plea for prison needle exchanges before a
Commons committee earlier this year, but was bumped off the agenda when
parliament was prorogued. The group is seeking a new date but faces
opposition from some Conservative MPs, who say sanctioning illegal drug
use is not the right way to tackle drugs in prison.
Figures
from the Correctional Service of Canada estimate at least 11 per cent
of prisoners inject drugs, and the Canadian Medical Association has
recommended to government that CSC develop and evaluate at least one
pilot needle and syringe program in prison.
Meanwhile,
Gibson and Gifford hope their classes will inspire healthy behaviour.
"They may not have a lot of control over their lives, but at least we
can talk about what health means for them," Gibson said.
jlavoie@tc.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist March 4, 2010
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Forums on HIV disclosure underway across Canada
HIV CRIMINALIZATION / Groups hope to contain use of criminal law to prosecute poz peeps

Cécile Kazatchkine, a policy analyst for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.
(courtesy of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network)
As
more poz people have been charged with not disclosing their HIV status
before having sex, there's a greater need than ever to understand what
Canada's criminal law says about HIV disclosure.
The
law says that you are required to disclose your status before engaging
in sexual intercourse that represents a "significant risk" of HIV
transmission, yet the concept of "significant risk" is very much open
to interpretation.
Helping
to sort out where we stand are the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and
the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE), in
partnership with local AIDS service organizations. These groups are
co-hosting a series of community forums across the country.
"Significant
risk is an imprecise term and creates confusion for HIV-positive people
and their sex partners," says Cécile Kazatchkine, a policy analyst for
the Legal Network. "For instance, while courts have clearly decided
that vaginal or anal sex without a condom poses a significant risk of
HIV transmission, it is not clear what other sexual activities can lead
to criminal prosecutions and convictions."
The
forums are meant to present this information in an accessible way.
Lawyer and community advocate Glenn Betteridge, on his second tour of
duty, will moderate the forums and help translate the legal jargon. In
2009, the forums were presented in some of the largest Canadian cities, but in 2010 more regional centres were targeted.
"Information
[is] wanted in smaller centres and this set of forums is in response to
that need," says Kazatchkine. "Our long-term hope is that these
community forums together will support a larger community response for
containing the use of criminal law in this area."
In
1998, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that you could be charged with
aggravated assault for failing to disclose your HIV-positive status to
a sex partner before having unprotected sex. Since then, an increasing
number of HIV-positive people, including many gay men, have been
charged and convicted of violent offences ranging from aggravated
sexual assault to murder.
It
is morally dubious to deliberately expose a sex partner to a
potentially lethal virus, but a growing chorus of activists and
researchers are saying HIV criminalization is fraught with injustice.
They argue variously that criminalization hampers HIV-prevention
efforts, fans the flames of HIV stigma, is rooted in misinformation and
hysterical fear, puts the responsibility to protect sexual health
entirely and unfairly on the shoulders of people living with HIV, turns
gay men against each other and serves only to further victimize poz
people.
The Legal Network has intervened in appellate court cases around Canada, ensuring that judges and juries are aware of the potential impacts of their decisions.
"Part
of the solution lies with developing prosecutorial guidelines to avoid
inappropriate and overly broad use of the criminal law," says
Kazatchkine. "Such guidelines would help police and Crown prosecutors
handle HIV-related criminal complaints in a fair and non-discriminatory
manner. They can help ensure cases are informed by current medical and
scientific knowledge about HIV and the social contexts of living with
HIV."
— with files from Matt Mills
Kevin Allen / National / Monday, March 01, 2010
From: Xtra.ca
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Liberals demand answers after HIV-vaccine plans scrapped
Liberals
are calling for an investigation into the Harper government's decision
to cancel plans for an HIV-vaccine manufacturing facility in Canada.
In a statement released on Fri, Feb 19,
the government said that no one in Canada was qualified to build the
facility, and that there is no longer a need for the facility in
Canada.
"This entire process has been highly suspicious," says Liberal health critic Carolyn Bennett.
"Here we have a government cancelling, and then un-cancelling, and then
re-cancelling an $88-million project, with no valid explanation as to
why. The government's behaviour cries out for an investigation by Canada's Auditor General or at Parliamentary committees."

Bill Gates and Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative in 2007.
Liberal
public health critic Kirsty Duncan wants to know what will happen to
the money set aside for the HIV-vaccine facility. When the Canadian HIV
Vaccine Initiative was announced in 2007, it diverted money from local AIDS organizations.
"With
or without this facility, we still need funding for HIV/AIDS research,
prevention and treatment, while those living with HIV/AIDS still need
supports and services," says Duncan.
"We need the government's assurances that the dollars budgeted for the
vaccine facility will be applied to the fight against HIV/AIDS."
Liberal industry, science and tech critic Marc Garneau slammed the Tories for being "short-sighted" and "partisan."
"The government's claim that no one in Canada is qualified to build this facility is beyond belief," says Garneau. "Canada has some of the most leading-edge researchers in the world, and our
government should be doing everything it can to keep them here. This
facility had the potential to bring us to the cutting edge of AIDS
research, drawing in research scientists from around the world, while
at the same time creating much-needed jobs.
POSTED BY BrentCreelman AT 1:43 PM
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
From: Xtra.ca
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HIV disclosure: AIDS conference discusses guidelines for prosecutors in criminal cases
Criminal
charges for non- disclosure of HIV infection should not be considered
unless the HIV-infected person intended to transmit the virus to
another person and succeeded in doing so, according to a coalition of
Quebec AIDS service groups.
The Coalition des organismes communautaires québécois de lutte contre le Sida will soon ask Quebec's
justice minister to include those principles in guidelines for
provincial prosecutors in dealing with HIV non-disclosure cases, its
executive director, Ken Monteith, said during an AIDS conference in Montreal.
"If HIV is not transmitted how can there be (the basis for a criminal) case?" Monteith asked during an interview yesterday.
Too many recent criminal prosecutions suggest that "what has been criminalized in Canada is the non-disclosure of your condition," he said.
Last year, the murder conviction of Johnson Aziga, of Hamilton,
garnered international headlines after a jury convicted him of two
counts of first-degree murder. He was found to have intentionally
caused the death of two women by having unprotected sex although he
knew he was HIV-positive, something he didn't disclose to them.
Aziga was also convicted of 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of attempted aggravated sexual assault.
Beyond
the spotlight of such high-profile non-disclosure cases are
HIV-infected people who have disclosed their health status only to be
threatened with criminal prosecution by former lovers seeking revenge
or more assets following a relationship breakdown, Monteith said.
A
fear of malicious prosecution will not serve the public health
imperative of preventing HIV transmission because people could actively
avoid HIV testing, fearing that a positive result would legally compel
them to disclose their status, he said.
The
position adopted by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network "is that there
are circumstances in which prosecuting someone for not disclosing HIV
status to a sexual partner may be justified," executive director
Richard Elliott said.
"It
does not mean that it is desirable." If people are practising "safer
sex," using a condom, for example, they shouldn't be prosecuted. Or, if
they have "a sustained, undetectable viral load, the risk of
transmission is reduced so dramatically that it does not warrant the
application of the criminal law," he said.
About
12 years ago, a Supreme Court of Canada ruling said, "if there is a
significant risk of transmitting HIV then there is a legal duty to
disclose and if you do not disclose, you may be prosecuted," Elliott
said.
"So
the key question is what constitutes a significant risk." That question
and others related to HIV-disclosure come amid what the Canadian AIDS
Society, the conference host, calls "an-ever evolving epidemic." About
68,000 Canadian are now living with HIV, Monique Doolittle-Romas, the
society's executive director said.
In Canada, HIV infections are increasingly reported among aboriginal people and women, Doolittle-Romas said.
In 2009, just over 35 per cent of the HIV cases reported in Canada were attributed to heterosexual sex, according to the Canadian AIDS Society.
lmoore@ thegazette.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
By LYNN MOORE, The Gazette March 7, 2010
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Welland students told to get HIV tests
Tattoo parlour closed for unsanitary equipment
WELLAND
- At least 60 people, many of them students from nearby high schools,
are being urged to get HIV and hepatitis blood tests after a tattoo
parlour was found using unsanitary equipment.
Niagara’s medical officer of health Dr. Robin Williams wants all clients of Needlez Tattoo, at 16 Thorold Road East in Welland, to immediately get tested for the deadly viruses.
Health
officers are also warning everyone who got a tattoo or body part
pierced at the parlour not to have unprotected sex or share razors,
clippers, toothbrushes or other personal items with others.
Needlez Tattoo, located only blocks from two Welland high schools, did not have a certified autoclave required to sterilize
tattoo ink injectors and body piercing needles and other tools.
Health officials are now co-ordinating with Centennial Secondary School and Notre Dame College Catholic high school to communicate the need for
students who used the parlour to get tested for HIV and hepatitis B and
C.
March 05, 2010
Paul Morse
From: Thespec.com website
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Resident honoured for AIDS advocacy
Local resident earns Casey Award

Di Pede honoured for AIDS advocacy. Downtown resident Tony Di Pede was recently named a Casey Award winner
for his long-standing work in the fight for equal rights for those
living with HIV/AIDS. Photo/COURTESY
What
began as an impromptu decision to attend a protest at Queen's Park over
20 years ago has turned into a lifetime of advocacy work for downtown Toronto resident Tony Di Pede.
Di
Pede has become one of the faces of the fight to secure rights for
people living with HIV/AIDS. Though he had been diagnosed with HIV
himself in 1989, he had never been particularly drawn to community
activism.
That all changed, however, when he was en route to meeting a client while working in the real estate sector.
"I
was driving to my meeting when I heard an interview on the radio with a
provincial health official at the time who suggested people living with
HIV/AIDS should be quarantined," he said. "Then I heard about AIDS
Action
Now holding a protest at Queen's Park, so I called my client and
cancelled my appointment to go to the protest instead."
At
that first protest, he was both moved by the support shown by those in
attendance and encouraged to become more active. To say he followed
through would be an understatement.
Di
Pede was one of the key figures in creating the Toronto People With
AIDS Foundation and has since worked with various organizations both
close to home and abroad.
Through
his work, and the work of countless others, what was once a dire
situation for people living with HIV/AIDS has become a far easier road
to navigate.
"Back
20 years ago, AIDS was not what it is today, where we have these
cocktails of medications," he said. "I've seen some not very nice
things happen to people because of it."
Di
Pede knows the single biggest challenge for people living with the
virus is often access to simple housing. Without a place to call home,
many cannot access health care or social programming critical to their
ability to maintain themselves.
"(Lack
of) housing is the barrier to receiving all the other help that's out
there," he said. "It's so important that people have a decent, stable
place to live so they can take care of themselves and create some
stability in their lives."
Di
Pede was one of the leading lights in creating the Wellesley Central
Residence, a complex for those living with HIV/AIDS and seniors, and
his efforts in bringing that building to bear resulted in it being
named the Tony
Di Pede Affordable Housing Complex last year.
The
road to getting the structure built was not an easy one, however - it
took more than a decade and countless hours of planning, petitioning
and stumping to finally see it happen.
"It
took 12 years for 120 people to get housed who are living with HIV/AIDS
and seniors," he said. "But I'm particularly happy about that building;
I'm overwhelmed with it."
Di
Pede still serves as chair of the residence. He is also active with the
International Council of AIDS Service
Organizations (ICASO) where he
helps in the fight for civil rights for those living with HIV/AIDS
around the world.
That work is quite different from the grassroots activism in which he has partaken locally, but it is no less important.
"Some
of the things you hear and read about just torture your soul," he said.
"In so many places, people with HIV and AIDS are the complete lowest
part of the totem pole for rights. There's a lot to be done - more than
we ever had to do here."
Though
the work is daunting, Di Pede said the tireless and passionate
advocates he has met through ICASO inspire and motivate him.
"You see the work they do and it gives you hope that we can make a difference," he said.
Di
Pede was recently named a Casey Award winner for his long-standing work
in the fight for equal rights. The annual awards recognize those who
share Casey House founder June Callwood's value of pioneering
leadership and compassion.
Di
Pede and fellow Casey Award winner the AIDS Committee of Toronto will
be honoured at Casey House's annual fundraising SnowBall Gala at the
Four Seasons Hotel on Saturday, March 6. For tickets or information on
the gala, visit www.caseyhouse.com
JUSTIN SKINNER
Mar 02, 2010 - 10:30 AM
From: InsideToronto.com website
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Hiv Couple Appeal Canadian Rejection
Aim To Immigrate
For three years, New Yorkers Ricardo Companioni and Andrew Grover have been considering Toronto as their new home.
Of
the many things about Canada that appeal to the American couple, who
are both HIV positive, the freedom to wed and access to universal
health care are paramount. But the pair has not yet been able to call Canada home.
Generally
healthy and never hospitalized, the couple are nonetheless expected to
have combined prescription drug costs of about $33,500 per year for the
next 10 years.
It's an expense they have promised to pay themselves if they can't secure employer-based or private drug coverage when in Canada.
However,
because there is nothing to stop the couple from enrolling in an
Ontario drug program meant to help residents offset particularly high
prescription costs, Citizenship and Immigration Canada rejected the
couple's application for permanent resident status.
Mr. Companioni and Mr. Grover were told they would place an "excessive demand" on the health-care system.
"It
wasn't denied right away. They kept asking us for more and more
documents," said Mr. Companioni, a music programmer who applied in the
skilled-worker category for immigration.
"Tax
returns. All of our assets. They even went so far as to make us sign a
letter promising not to use their social services. And we had to get
this letter notarized. Even after all that, they said no."
But
at the urging of their lawyer, the couple -- who have amassed a
half-million dollars in assets -- appealed the decision in federal
court and won the right to have a new immigration officer examine their
case.
The
appeal's argument borrowed from a 2005 ruling by the Supreme Court of
Canada on an immigration case, which set a precedent for ensuring
immigration officers take into account plans made by applicants on how
they will contribute to their, or their dependent's, social services
costs.
The
couple's lawyer, Michael Battista, argued this consideration should
also be extended to something such as prescription drug costs.
The HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic in Ontario also formally intervened in the case on behalf of the couple.
Although
Citizenship and Immigration then proceeded to file its own appeal, Mr.
Battista said he is confident Mr. Companioni and Mr. Grover will
eventually become permanent residents.
"I
am very optimistic about it," he said. "This decision is really part of
an evolution of the law with respect to immigration and health costs.
It used to be, in my experience, that people with HIV were
automatically refused, and, thankfully, we now have a more nuanced
approach that actually looks at their capacity to contribute to their
health costs."
Citizenship and Immigration will not discuss specific immigration cases because of privacy concerns.
Canadian
legislation doesn't explicitly deny entry to people with HIV or AIDS,
but it does deny applicants who will place "an excessive demand" on
health services.
Allison Cross, Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, March 01, 2010
National Post
|
Vancouver Sets Olympic Condom Count Record
Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada (AHN) - Some went home with gold, some with
silver and others with bronze, but the city of Vancouver set its own
record for the number of condoms distributed during the 2010 Winter
Olympic Games, according to Canadian health officials.

Over
a 17-day period, Vancouver Coastal Health gave out approximately
100,000 condoms-mainly for Winter Olympic and Paralympic athletes and
officials, according to reports. The prophylactics were provided by the
British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.
However,
rumors circulated that the initial batch of condoms weren't enough,
prompting an emergency shipment of 8,500 additional rubbers from the
Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research.
There
was a total 6,500 Olympic and Paralympic participants, averaging 15
condoms per person and copious amounts of sex, joked Clay Adams,
Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman.
Adams clarified rumors in a statement, saying the condoms were available to
just about everyone, according to reports. They were placed in public
restrooms, on the cruise ships that housed supporting Olympic personnel
and handed out by volunteers.
Condoms have been distributed at the Olympic Games since 1992 in Barcelona, Spain.
Approximately 40,000 of the original 100,000 were intended for the
athletes in the Olympic villages at the 2010 Games, according to
reports.
The free condom distribution was part of Canada's efforts to educate on HIV and AIDS awareness, reports stated.
Although Canada is proud of its efforts, there still is a long way to go, Adams said. The Brazilian city of Rio de Janiero reportedly doled out 35 million condoms during Mardi Gras.
Copyright © 2003 - 2010 AHN - All rights reserved.
Redistribution, republication. syndication, rewriting or broadcast is prohibited without the prior written consent of AHN.
March 2, 2010 9:48 a.m. EST
Hansen Sinclair - AHN Reporter
|
HIV positive painters create healing art

David
Berg (left) and Ray Chorney, HIV positive artists from Edmonton, stand
next to their artwork at The Paint Spot gallery, 10032 81 Ave., on
Monday. (AMBER BRACKEN, Edmonton Sun)
Doctors once told David Berg he had six months to live.
But 20 years later, the HIV positive Edmonton man is still alive and says the deadly disease motivated him to carry on.
“Everyone
thinks this disease is a death sentence, but it’s given me life,” said
Berg, at the opening of the Living With X exhibit at The Paint Spot
Salon Gallery, 10032 81 Ave., on Monday.
The 46-year-old and six other men with HIV outlined life with the disease through artwork on public display until April 30.
At
a Stony Plain retreat centre in September – funded by awareness group
HIV Edmonton – the participants traced their bodies on paper and used
watercolour and pastels.
In
Berg’s life-sized painting, he marked the communities where he has
lived, groups who have supported him and meaningful messages.
Since
Berg was diagnosed, the former intravenous opiate drug user has become
a volunteer speaker at schools, sharing his experience of life with
HIV.
“In some ways I was given a gift of learning to live," he said.
Another
artist, Ray Chorney, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2000, said doing
body map artwork helped him understand his life’s journey better.
“My life didn’t really start until I was diagnosed. I lived very selfishly.” Chorney, 45, said growing up in the Northwest Territories, he was never educated about HIV.
“It was something that happened far away."
But today Chorney says he has accepted his disease and is closer than ever with family and friends.
“I love my life now. I live it to the max.”
About 2,000 people are currently living with HIV in the city, according to HIV Edmonton statistics.
The
public is invited to attend a free reception March 11 from 5 to 9 p.m.
at the gallery to meet the artists and view their work.
kristy.brownlee@sunmedia.ca
By KRISTY BROWNLEE, QMI AGENCY
Last Updated: March 1, 2010 5:48pm
|
Politicians confer with advocate on testing act

Photo by Whitehorse Star
The Yukon’s
lawmakers sat down with one of the country’s foremost advocates for the
rights of people living with HIV/AIDS last week to discuss possible
changes to the Mandatory Testing and Disclosure Act.
The
act was first introduced by the Department of Justice late last year.
It has been available for public consultation over the past two months.
The
legislation would give emergency responders, including police,
ambulance attendants and Good Samaritans, the power to demand a blood
test from someone in the event they come in contact with that person’s
bodily fluids while assisting in an emergency.
The blood test would have to be ordered by a judge, after hearing the responder’s case.
Police
organizations, as well as ambulance attendants and firefighters, have
come out in support of the act, which already exists in several other
parts of the country.
Creation
of the draft act was supported unanimously by the members of the
legislature when it was proposed by then-Liberal MLA Pat Duncan in 2005.
But not everyone is a fan of the act.
Nurses’ associations have typically remained silent on it, or have said they do not support the law; the Yukon’s nurses’ association has not yet commented publicly on the act.
Its
most vociferous opponents are civil liberties groups and organizations
that support and advocate for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS
and Hepatitis.
Richard
Elliot is at the head of one of those organizations. He is the
executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, and he was
in the city last week to speak at a conference on harm reduction in the
North, put on by Blood Ties Four Directions.
He
brought with him a submission to the Department of Justice that
described the Mandatory Testing Act as “an unjustified and unnecessary
violation of rights.”
Last
Thursday and Friday, he met with caucus members of the Yukon Liberals
and New Democrats, as well as with the deputy minister of Justice,
Dennis Cooley.
Elliot’s
first choice would be to see the act scrapped. However, he included in
his submission a list of suggested amendments to the act which, should
it pass, would “tighten up” the legislation and mitigate some of the
potential rights infringements.
It was those amendments that members from the opposition and third party were most interested in.
“It was a very informative meeting,“Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell said after speaking with Elliot.
“We
ultimately asked him for additional information regarding other
jurisdictions, frequency of use, and whether it has changed the
outcomes ... if the order was made and whether that has had an effect
on the prophylactic decisions made for the people.”
According
to Elliot, the act is rarely used, primarily because the vast majority,
about 98 per cent, of people willingly give a blood sample when
requested.
As
for the use of prophylactics - an aggressive treatment of anti-HIV
drugs given to someone who has been exposed to the virus - they must be
taken immediately after the incident, and would be useless if
administered after the exposed person had gone to court, obtained the
order, and the sample was taken, analyzed and returned. Even on the
tightest timeline, that process would take weeks, if not months.
There is no such treatment for exposure to Hepatitis C, the other prevalent blood-borne illness this act would cover.
“I do find interesting the information to date the very, very small number of cases - I think there is only one (in Canada) - of HIV infection in the line of duty,” Elliot said.
In
that case, the virus was passed on via a needle, from a patient in the
late stage of AIDS to a health care worker. It did not occur in an
emergency situation.
Mitchell
said he and his fellow caucus members have not made any final decision
on whether they will support the act in the legislature.
“We’re
still in the information gathering stage,” he said, adding the party
will review the results of the public consultation and speak to groups
such as the Yukon Medical Association before coming to any conclusions.
NDP
Justice critic Steve Cardiff said his meeting with Elliot brought to
light substantial concerns about how the act could affect people’s
right to privacy, especially in a place like the Yukon.
“We
live in a fairly small jurisdiction,” he pointed out. “There needs to
be some comfort for individuals who are subject to mandatory testing
that their privacy is going to be protected and that they won’t suffer
stigmatization in their community.”
In the draft act, the person who requests the sample would have access to the results.
Elliot
argues the results should be given exclusively to that person’s doctor,
who could then take the necessary steps to assist his or her patient,
either with medical treatment or counselling.
Cardiff said one thing that was clear in his conversation with Elliot is the
need for better education about the actual risk of infection.
Outside
of unprotected sex and needle-sharing, Elliot’s submission shows, the
chance of contracting HIV or Hepatitis is very low.
A
person with an open wound that is exposed to HIV-infected blood has a
one in 300 chance of catching the virus. There is a one in 1000 chance
of contracting HIV if the infected blood comes in contact with a
person’s mucous membranes. HIV cannot be contracted by skin-to-skin
contact.
“We need better public education about the types of precautions people can take,” Cardiff said
“And as well, we need to provide comfort to people who may have been exposed about what the real risk of exposure is.”
The question he was left with, Cardiff said, is: “Will this legislation do more harm than good, and are there
better ways to address these problems than passing this legislation?”
He
said he will be trying to find the answer to that question in the
coming weeks in talking to first responders, doctors, nurses and the
public.
Deputy Justice minister Cooley was not available for comment today on his meeting with Elliot.
By Justine Davidson on February 16, 2009 at 5:57 pm
From: Whitehorse Daily Star
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UNAIDS chief calls on Canada to ensure G8 delivers on universal access pledges

A
top United Nations official has called on the Prime Minister of Canada,
as host of this June’s summit of the Group of Eight (G8) leaders, to
ensure that the group delivers on its commitment to universal access to
HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.
“As
the host, Prime Minister Stephen Harper can set a bold agenda for the
summit. The G8 commitment to universal access must be fulfilled,”
Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS), said last week during a global summit on HIV held in Vancouver against the backdrop of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“Imagine
if we could harness the shared energy, creativity and goodwill of the
Olympic Games for other social goods. What stops us from engendering a
similar response to the greatest transnational social challenge of our
era – AIDS?
“What
if we could promise public glory for those individuals, communities and
countries that perform best? This is what I imagine the world will feel
like when we unite to commemorate the end of the AIDS epidemic,” stated
Mr. Sidibé.
The
UNAIDS chief noted that the global AIDS response is at a “tipping
point,” and it is unacceptable that, almost 30 years since the start of
the epidemic, over 7,400 people are newly infected with HIV every day,
and almost 5,500 people die of AIDS.
“With
five people newly infected for every two starting treatment, we have
yet to break the trajectory of the epidemic,” he said. “Today we are
still far from extending treatment to all those that need it. The
number of new infections continues to outpace our efforts to stop the
spread of HIV.
“Clearly,
the status quo is failing, and nothing less than a quantum leap is
needed to build on the progress made so far and to extend hope to
millions of people whose lives depend on it.”
Mr.
Sidibé added that UNAIDS will convene a forum this year to focus on
what it is calling ‘Treatment 2.0’ – the next generation of HIV
treatment. “I believe that together we can think outside our
traditional viewpoints and come up with a new, comprehensive and
sustainable approach to treatment,” he stated.
The
26 February meeting was organized by Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of
the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and President of
the International AIDS Society.
Dr. Montaner described British Columbia’s ambitious $48 million pilot programme to send health-care workers onto the streets of Vancouver to diagnose and treat hard-to-reach populations such as people who
inject drugs, using early treatment as an aggressive form of
prevention.
The
programme, called “Seek and Treat,” will improve access to treatment to
the populations that are still disproportionately affected by HIV in Vancouver.
1 March 2010
From: UM News Centre website
No author cited
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Gay Cancer
By
the end of 2008, over 33 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS
worldwide. 25 million have died in 30 years due to complications
associated with the disease. Despite HIV/AIDS being widespread among
various demographic groups worldwide, there continues to be a stigma
put on gay men that they are the most infected. The stereotype stems
from several hundred gay men in California being the initial group of people diagnosed in the Western world. The stigma and virus quickly spread to epicentres –Toronto, New York, Montreal.
“At the time, gay men were singled out as a high risk group,” said Michael Connors Jackman, a PhD candidate in anthropology at York University. Jackman finished his master’s at Memorial University in 2007 with a focus on HIV in Atlantic Canada. His work includes
analyzing a political engagement between art and the effects of the
disease. “As the epidemic in Canada escalated in the late ’80s and early ’90s, gay men became the central
focus of AIDS in various forms of media.” Jackman notes films such as Philadelphia that represent gay men as a group affected by and infected with HIV/AIDS.
“For
a generation of gay and queer men who have come of age after the
emergence of AIDS, the culture of safer sex is part of a parcel of what
it means to be sexually active,” he stated. Robert Teixeira, working on
his PhD in sociology at York,
thinks this prescriptive parcel is detrimental to gay or queer men.
Teixeira believes that limiting the way in which a person engages in
sexual activity, or frightening gay men into using protection at all
costs, “blocks out and occludes the noble and vital pursuit of sexual
pleasure, and with it, sexual knowledge.” He notes that the
connotations HIV/AIDS brings with it – decline of the human body,
illness, carnal vulnerability – are in exact opposition to eroticism
which is associated with youth, health, and beauty.
It
is no wonder that the stigma was immediately associated with a group of
individuals that celebrated love and sex without typical social
limitations. Homosexual men, or men who have sex with men (MSM), are
now hindered by the fear of a disease that represents the opposite of
sexual freedom. It also brings complications into the act of
non-monogamous sex. “There is a very strong contemporary tendency to
believe that we can completely avoid HIV, purge the sexual field of
play from this menace, and operate our sexual lives on this wilful
blindness,” said Teixeira.
“Of
course, this manoeuvre depends on a concerted effort to mask and deny
the prevalence of HIV in our communities and to conceptualize sex as
risk-free endeavour.” To elaborate, in order for gay men to have
relatively anonymous sexual encounters, they must either turn a blind
eye to the threat of the disease, or must embrace that it exists,
instilling fear and altering the sexual experience. For those that
still wish to have sex without protection, as a rebellion to sexual
barriers, Teixeira notes that there is a frequently asked question of
prevention: Do you have HIV? A denial of the existence of the disease,
or at the very least a denial that it can be caught by the individual,
must be present in order for the person to continue, even if the answer
to the above question is no.
Aside
from the possible health ramifications, this questioning also adds an
element of selection that would not be as prevalent were HIV/AIDS not a
factor. “[This] carries with it many assumptions, that we can interview
and select our sexual partners and exclude those who seem to carry too
much risk, and conversely that having sex with an HIV positive person
is undesirable in and of itself.” The stigma associated with a person
who is HIV positive is certainly one of disease and danger, even though
condoms are available for sexual intercourse. A remaining problem from
the AIDS epidemic that affected gays in the ’80s and ’90s is that
homosexual men are continuously seen in a light of infection. “There
still remains a strong sense that gays, because of their sexual
activities, are all HIV positive,” said Jackman. “The fact remains that
gay men are disproportionately affected by AIDS.”
He
also brings up the point that the ban on blood and organ donorship,
with the latter in effect since early 2008. “The ban on blood from gay
men is a homophobic and discriminatory leftover from a time when
testing for HIV was impossible,” he said. According to AVERT.org, an
international AIDS charity organization, only five to ten per cent of
new infections worldwide are due to male-male sex. Approximately 60 per
cent of new infections are due to heterosexual sex. Therefore, unjust
limitations such as these need to be removed in order to rid the LGBT
community of a damaging stigma. “The problem of dealing with stigma is
not so much about trying to pretend that gay men are no longer affected
by HIV,” said Jackman. The discussion of status disclosure has pros and
cons. “While some gay men might want to move forward beyond a
stereotype of gays as people with AIDS, I think we need to be careful
that this does not further stigmatize those who actually live with the
disease.” “The desire to cast off stigma must not come with the
unloading of such stigma onto those most directly affected by the
illness.”
1955
– 1969 A number of deaths occur with unknown causes. Later examination
of the preserved blood samples of several of the cases show early
development of the disease.
1982 Due to clusters of homosexual men in southern California becoming sick with similar symptoms, a sexually-transmitted agent is
proposed. The disease is termed GRID, or gay-related immune deficiency.
After health officials diagnose more cases – nearly half of which are
not homosexual men – the term is changed to acquired immune deficiency
syndrome, or AIDS.
1984
Canadian airline steward Gaëtan Dugas dies of what he called “the gay
cancer.” Dugas is said to have infected dozens of men over a period of
years and is dubbed by many as “Patient Zero.” However, Dugas is only
one in a group of men that had travelled to and from Africa, therefore
he cannot be the sole contributor for bringing HIV to North America.
1986 After several years of determining the etiological identification, the term HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, is used.
1987 AZT, the first antiretroviral drug for treating HIV, becomes available to the public.
1988 The first World AIDS Day is held on December 1.
1991 Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the rock band Queen, dies on November 24, 1991, due to complications with AIDS.
1992
Combination drug therapies are developed. These “cocktails” are thought
to be more effective against the slow down drug resistance in patients.
1995
A new inhibitor, Saquinavir, allows for highly active antiretroviral
therapy, lowering AIDS-related deaths significantly in years to come.
1997 Approximately 750,000 Americans are estimated to have HIV.
2000
The World Health Organization approximates that up to 20 per cent of
new HIV infections worldwide are due to inadequately screened blood
transfusions.
2002
South African health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang promotes natural
remedies as treatments for HIV, supporting denialist claims that
current Western medicines are toxic. President Thabo Mbeki supports
AIDS denialism until his ousting in 2008.
2005
Nelson Mandela reveals to the world that his son has died due to
complications with AIDS. He makes the information public to attempt to
combat the denialism within the government and to encourage more aid
from South Africans.
2007
One in six infections of HIV have antiretroviral drug-resistance
mutations, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
2008 – 2010 New treatments are being explored, including a University of Toronto method in which exhausted immune cells are “rescued” and renewed.
March 6, 2010 by James McDonald
From: The Muse website
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Argos Therapeutics Publishes Positive Immune Response, Safety And
Manufacturing Data For Its Arcelis™ HIV Program In Clinical Immunology
Argos
Therapeutics announced the publication of a manuscript in the February
edition of Clinical Immunology, detailing positive immune response,
safety and manufacturing data for its AGS-004 immunotherapy for HIV.
AGS-004 is a product of the Company's Arcelis™ technology, and is a
personalized, RNA-loaded dendritic cell-based immunotherapy that is
perfectly matched
to each patient's unique HIV viral burden. The manuscript details a
clinical study in which AGS-004 was evaluated in type-1 HIV-infected
adults who were being treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART). The
study demonstrated that AGS-004 is capable of producing a proliferative
T cell response to HIV-1 antigens in patients, with full or partial
HIV-specific proliferative immune responses occurring in 78% of
evaluable subjects.
"While
ART improves the morbidity and mortality associated with HIV, it does
not improve the immune system's ability to control HIV replication, and
it is also associated with significant side effects for patients," said
Principal Investigator Jean-Pierre Routy, M.D., from McGill University
Health Centre in Montreal.
"A new treatment strategy is needed that could potentially limit or
delay exposure to ART and its accompanying side effects, and I believe
that an immunotherapeutic approach may be able to achieve this, through
producing or enhancing the anti-HIV immune responses needed to control
viral replication."
Charles
Nicolette, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of
Research and Development of Argos Therapeutics, added, "We are excited
about the Arcelis immunotherapy platform because it is so well suited
to the pathology of HIV infection; it overcomes the viral variability
and the immune suppressive mechanisms that allow the virus to persist
chronically and, remarkably, this is achieved without activation of
CD4+ T cells, which are known to serve as factories for viral
replication. This current study confirms previous proof-of-concept
studies that have shown that our approach is able to induce a diverse
immune response to HIV in patients."
AGS-004
is produced from autologous, monocyte-derived dendritic cells that are
electroporated with RNA encoding for CD40L and for HIV antigens Gag,
Nef, Rev, and Vpr, derived from each patient's pre-ART plasma. Data
from this study show that four patients demonstrated increases in T
cell proliferation specific to the four HIV antigens used in AGS-004,
which met the criteria for a full response; three additional subjects
demonstrated increases that represented partial responses to AGS-004
therapy. Importantly, HIV viral load was undetectable at baseline and
throughout the duration of the study for all subjects.
Reported
adverse events were all mild in nature, with no evidence of
autoimmunity, and no significant changes in absolute CD4+ and CD8+ cell
counts were observed. No subjects discontinued the study due to any
adverse event. The study also demonstrated the manufacturing
feasibility of AGS-004, which was produced according to current Good
Manufacturing Procedures, with AGS-004 being produced within a mean of
6 weeks and yielding 4-12 doses per patient.
"This
study demonstrates both the clinical and commercial potential of
AGS-004 for HIV therapy," said Jeff Abbey, President and CEO of Argos.
"In addition to the promising immune response data observed, we have
also received important data detailing a potentially favorable safety
profile, as well as validation for our proprietary immunotherapy
manufacturing process. Based on the strong results we have observed so
far, we are near completion of a Phase 2a trial of this candidate in
HIV, and will initiate a Phase 2b double blind placebo controlled study
this year."
About the Study
The
primary endpoint of this study was the change from baseline of the
proliferative capacity of CD8+ T cells in response to the four HIV
RNA-encoded antigens expressed in AGS-004. The success of the
manufacturing process was measured by the ability to produce AGS-004
and provide the first dose to each subject within 12 weeks of initial
leukapheresis. The study enrolled adults with HIV-1 infection who had
plasma HIV RNA levels of fewer than 200 copies/mL, CD4+ T cell counts
of greater than 350 cells/mm3, and who had been receiving their first
ART regimen for at least 12 weeks prior to enrollment. AGS-004 was
successfully generated and administered to 10 subjects, and 9 enrolled
subjects were evaluable for the primary endpoint. Patients received
monthly injections of AGS-004 in combination with ART.
Development
of the Argos HIV program is funded in part with federal funds from the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National
Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under
Contract No. N01-AI-60019, and by CANVAC (HIV-001) and the Canadian
Trials Network (CTN) Study No. 229, from whom we have a contract for
the development of our HIV program.
The
manuscript, titled, "Immunologic activity and safety of autologous HIV
RNA-electroporated dendritic cells in HIV-1 infected patients receiving
antiretroviral therapy," was authored by Jean-Pierre Routy,
Mohamed-Rachid Boulassel, Bader Yassine-Diab, Charles Nicolette, Don
Healey, Renu Jain, Claire Landry, Oleg Yegorov, Irina Tcherepanova,
Tamara Monesmith, Lothar Finke, and Rafick-Pierre Sekaly.
About the Arcelis™ Technology
Arcelis is Argos'
proprietary technology for personalizing RNA-loaded dendritic cell
immunotherapies for HIV, other infectious diseases, and cancer. This
platform is based on optimizing a patient's own (autologous) dendritic cells to trigger a pathogen- or tumor-specific immune response. To
address the challenge of the unique genetic profile of each patient's
disease and the genetic mutations of that disease, Argos loads the autologous dendritic cells with a sample of messenger RNA
("mRNA") isolated from their disease. Through this process, dendritic
cells can potentially prime immune responses to the entire antigenic
repertoire, resulting in an immunotherapeutic that is customized to the
patient's specific disease.
Source
Argos Therapeutics, Inc.
07 Mar 2010
No author cited
|
Questions linger after HPV vaccine approved in young men
No plans to roll out immunization; Gardasil bill tops $400 per person

Gardasil, one of two vaccines that fight multiple strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), was approved by Health Canada Feb 23 for use in men. But not all gay men may benefit from, or even have access to, the vaccine, medical experts point out.
And for now, those who want it must be prepared to shell out more than $400.
The vaccine, from pharma giant Merck, has been allowed in Canada for use in women since 2006, based on strong evidence it can prevent
cervical and vaginal cancers and pre-cancerous lesions. The new
approval, for men and boys aged 9 to 26, comes on the heels of a study
presented last month showing about 75 percent effectiveness in
preventing anal lesions that can lead to cancer. All study participants
were men who had sex with men. (A similar study last year showed the
vaccine had an even stronger effect in preventing male genital warts.)
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in Canada,
affecting about 75 percent of sexually active adults. Though infection
often clears up on its own, when it persists, certain forms of the
virus can cause genital warts — while others lead to anal, genital and
oral cancers.
Men
who have sex with men are about 17 times more likely to get anal
cancer. And poz gay men are at much greater risk of persistent and thus
more dangerous HPV infections, says Dr François Coutlée, a
Montreal-based researcher and physician who specializes in diagnosing
and treating anal conditions in men with HIV.
"Obviously,
the men who would benefit the most from the vaccine would be those who
have sex with men," says Coutlée, who was involved in the Gardasil
anal-cancer study.
But he adds that if mass vaccination is approved by public-health authorities, it would not be based on sexual orientation.
"The ideal age for vaccination is somewhere between 9 and 12, before sexual activity begins."
What
about older men — including those who are HIV-positive, who may need
protection the most? The evidence of benefit is not there yet (the
recent studies involved only HIV-negative men under 26), but Coutlée is
optimistic.
"I
would be surprised if it didn't have any impact," he says. Gardasil
protects against four different HPV strains, he says. "The probability
that you have been exposed to all four of these viruses is low."
A
Canadian study is currently underway to test the effectiveness of
Gardasil in poz women, but there is still no data available for men
with HIV.
Dr
Benny Chang, a U of T lecturer and physician at Maple Leaf Medical
Clinic whose specialties include HIV/AIDS and other STIs, is more
cautious. He describes the anal-cancer study as a "small trial" but
"very promising." Still, he says the Gardasil indication for young
negative men is "very good news," especially because it can help
protect women.
"We
should be vaccinating all young people between the age of 9 and 26,
regardless of sex or sexual orientation because at this age, there is a
lower likelihood that they already have HPV infection."
As
for poz men — who are more likely than others to get anal cancer from
HPV — it may simply be too late for Gardasil to be beneficial. Chang
cites the work of infectious-disease expert Jeanne Marrazzo, who says
most gay men with HIV already have all of the HPV strains the vaccine
guards against. While Gardasil fights four types of HPV, it's no help
if you already have them. Coutlée is involved in further studies on the
impact of HPV on poz men and will present results at the next
international HPV conference this July in Montreal.
If
you're an HIV-negative guy under 26, speak to your doctor about
Gardasil — but be prepared to open your wallet. Sheila Murphy of
Merck's vaccine division says that the Health Canada approval doesn't
automatically mean the drug will be covered by provincial health
authorities for use in gay and bisexual men.
Merck
is not aware of any impending changes to cover costs for men who have
sex with men. "Only school-aged girls from ages 9 to 11 have their
protection covered by public-health jurisdictions in Canada,"
notes Murphy. She says the solution is to protest. "The gay community
is very good at organizing to ensure that its needs are addressed
fairly."
A second anti-HPV vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix, is available in Canada but not yet approved for use in men.
Shawn Syms / Toronto / Tuesday, March 02, 2010
From: Xtra.ca website
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