Better access to HIV testing urged
The AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia is calling on the province to make HIV testing and prevention more accessible for Nova Scotians.
“Research tells us that most new HIV infections are the result of contact with someone who has not yet been diagnosed with HIV,” said ACNS Executive Director Chris Aucoin in a news release.
“Until the person with HIV is put on antiretroviral treatment, that person remains highly infectious. But treatment will not start until they get tested, so more and better testing options are crucial.”
The release comes during the National HIV Testing Week, which takes place Nov. 23-30 and is organized by the Canadian Aids Society in collaboration with communitybased organizations and local health authorities across Canada.
One way to improve HIV testing accessibility in Nova Scotia is by making rapid testing for the virus available.
This method allows people to get tested and receive their results on the same visit to a testing centre.
“Rapid point-of-care testing has been approved in Canada for 15 years,” said Aucoin in the release.
“However, this faster, easier and much-preferred testing option, which is standard in many jurisdictions, is unavailable in Nova Scotia.”
Aucoin also points to another kind of HIV rapid tests that people can take at home, like a pregnancy test. The test, called INSTI® HIV Self Test, was approved by Health Canada early this month.
He said the Nova Scotia government should make the test available free of charge for populations at risk.
“Those populations who are most at risk for HIV infection are also populations who are mostly likely to be economically challenged,” he said in the release.
“Making the self-test available for free would eliminate a barrier to those who would most benefit from having access to HIV testing.”
Aucoin said Nova Scotia should also expand access to Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PREP), a drug that reduces the transmission risk of HIV. According to the ACNS, when taken daily, PREP is up to 98 per cent effective in preventing sexual transmission of HIV.
The province added the HIV prevention drug to its provincial pharmacare program in 2018. But Aucoin said the government should provide universal access to the drug.
“We now need to see it made available to those who would most benefit from it, and the existing Nova Scotia pharmacare coverage is not doing that.”
Increased access to testing and treatments means most people living with HIV will no longer get AIDS, and will have a typical life-expectancy, said Aucoin in the release.
He added that access to treatment is also a prevention tool. People with HIV who get effective treatment, which lowers the amount of virus in their bodies to undetectable levels, have no chances of infecting others through sexual contact.
“We want to get individuals with HIV on the care continuum sooner rather than later, both for their own long-term health and to prevent future infections.”