HIV/AIDS treatment in Canada needs overhaul: activists

It's a "myth" that Canadians with HIV and AIDS have adequate and equal access to health care in Canada, activists say at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

Louise Binder, founder and co-chair of the Canadian Treatment Action Council, says access to treatment and needed new HIV/AIDS medications is too slow and too difficult, relative to other G7 countries.

"It's a matter of life and death for people, nothing short of a complete overhaul is acceptable," Binder told reporters.

And, she adds, the quality of health-care access depends on where you live in Canada, or what population you belong to.

People in the Maritimes have the poorest access to medication because there is no drug reimbursement program, she says. B.C. residents are only covered for the least expensive HIV/AIDS drugs, and must pay the difference to access more costly drugs.

Binder says that Canada's slow process of reviewing and approving drugs means people with HIV and AIDS aren't getting badly needed, innovative drugs.

"Many people have run out of options and that often happens to people with HIV," she says.

"Because this virus is a very smart virus, it becomes resistant to the drugs, so you need to continue always to have new drugs available."

Stigma, cultural barriers decrease access

Structural and cultural barriers further compound these health-care issues for visible minorities and new Canadians, says Esther Thurao, co-chair of the African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario.

One problem for refugees is their lack of legal status in Canada, and they cannot access Canada's health-care system. Another problem for new Canadians is lack of familiarity with the country's complicated health system, she says.

"Nobody tells you how the health-care system operates when you're new," says Thurao. "You have to find out that information by yourself."

Some can't afford transportation or child care so they can get to medical appointments, she says.

"A lot of people are living in poverty, and getting themselves to the health-care system is a problem," she says.

And, stigma around the disease discourages people from accessing health care, says Thurao, especially for those new immigrants coming from countries where HIV and AIDS is prevalent.

Randy Jackson of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network says recent studies have shown that First Nations people with HIV and AIDS die more rapidly because they did not access health care or drugs.

Binder urged the government to make a commitment at the conference to ensure timely health care and medication to HIV and AIDS by:

• Providing more resources to the health care system.
• Developing a national pharmaceutical strategy to ensure equal access to medication, regardless of where they live or their ability to pay.
• Scrapping or fixing the current process to review and approve drugs.