Community organizations laud new supports to help combat rising HIV rates in Manitoba

The Manitoba government announced new supports for HIV care on Friday, coinciding with World AIDS Day — including the creation of an Indigenous-led mobile service for homeless Manitobans and a research grant in memory of a doctor who treated HIV/AIDS patients at the height of the crisis.

The province committed $527,000 toward the Manitoba HIV Program this year and $271,000 for a mobile care service run by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre.

The funding comes on the heels of a record number of Manitoba HIV diagnoses last year.

Some Manitobans with HIV "face multiple barriers, whether it's stigma, mental health, health-care access challenges, lack of adequate housing," Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said during a news conference at the legislature.

"We must work together to eliminate the barriers and support Manitobans living with HIV/AIDS."

They said the suite of new supports are meant to help curb the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in Manitoba, which has some of the highest rates in the country.

One way public health hopes to do that is through Research Manitoba, which will launch a postdoctoral fellowship focused on HIV/AIDS research next February, named in honour of Dr. Richard (Dick) Smith.

Dr. Smith, a recent Order of Manitoba recipient for his decades of work treating patients in the LGBTQ community, died last month at age 80.

"In a time of extreme stigma, Dr. Smith provided care and compassion when no one else would," Asagwara said. "His legacy and advocacy lives on."

Manitoba's rate 5 times national average

The rate of new diagnoses "has been dramatically increasingly" and more than doubled over five years, according to the latest data from Manitoba Health for 2022.

Last year had the highest number of cases detected in Manitoba's history. The provincial rate of HIV is nearly five times the Canadian average, said Manitoba HIV Program lead Kimberly Templeton.

There were 196 newly diagnosed cases last year — a 36 per cent increase from the 144 new cases in 2021. There were also 60 people living with HIV who moved to Manitoba, bringing the total to 256, according to the program.

Nine Circles Community Health Centre and the Manitoba HIV Program say they identified 135 newly diagnosed cases in the first six months of this year.

At this rate, there could be more than 300 cases by year's end, said Nine Circles executive director Mike Payne.

"If we don't do anything meaningful now we will see those rates of HIV continue to climb up to potentially 500 next year, 800 in years beyond that," said Payne, who said the province's commitment to work with community groups is "essential" to stemming the spread.

Payne hopes the new provincial plans include "lowering the cost barrier" to pre-exposure prophylaxis, commonly known as PrEP, which prevents HIV infections. It was added to the provincial formulary two years ago.

Templeton said the demographics in Manitoba's HIV/AIDS cases differ from other provinces, with higher rates of infection in heterosexual people, women and people who use injection drugs like methamphetamine.

Elsewhere in Canada, HIV is more likely to impact gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, she said.

Indigenous people in Manitoba are disproportionately impacted by HIV, she said, "due to the ongoing impacts of colonization, structural racism and inter-generational trauma."

There's also a growing rate of people testing positive who aren't getting care, she said.

A "significant" investment across multiple sectors is needed for "evidence-based strategies in HIV prevention, testing and treatment, with Indigenous leadership and collaboration at the forefront," Templeton said.

She said she is encouraged by the "openness" of the new government to do those things.

Asagwara said the province will partner with provincewide local and Indigenous-led organizations committed to preventing, treating and stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections.

That includes more support for culturally informed care through the non-profit Ka Ni Kanichihk.

The new mobile service run through Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre will target homeless and precariously housed people living with HIV, sexually transmitted or blood-borne infections, and other chronic health issues. It will also connect those people with housing, community and cultural programming, as well as mental health and harm reduction supports.

"Some of these people haven't had a chance to be in the health-care system, and when they are they aren't treated very well, so we will bring our services to them," said Colleen Ottertail, director of primary care for Aboriginal Health and Wellness.

The province is also partnering with the Program to Access Treatment for HIV and Support, or PATHS, which provides outreach care to people living with HIV/AIDS who face barriers to treatment.

Asagwara said that will begin with the creation of interdisciplinary teams in Winnipeg, which could expand to Brandon and Thompson, to help people who aren't plugged in to the care system better manage their symptoms. 

The province also plans to hire staff focused on keeping in touch with people who test positive for a sexually transmitted or blood-borne infection, the health minister said.