If you have ever been sexually active, and you are from British Columbia, the B.C. government wants you. According to the Globe and Mail, medical experts in B.C. are saying it is possible to end HIV/AIDS, and the province is launching a 4-year, $48-million program to detect and treat the disease faster.
If you have ever been sexually active, and you are from British Columbia, the B.C. government wants you. According to the Globe and Mail, medical experts in B.C. are saying it is possible to end HIV/AIDS, and the province is launching a 4-year, $48-million program to detect and treat the disease faster.
The B.C. government has a new an ad campaign to encourage getting tested for HIV and also counter the stigma of a positive test result that scares people from getting tested altogether, the CBC writes. Testing can help the estimated 1 per cent of people unaware they are living with HIV get treatment faster. In less than 1 minute, a simple blood test from the fingertip can determine if a person is HIV-positive or not.
“Elimination of HIV is possible,” Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of B.C.’s Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, told the CBC. And while mandatory testing is not an option, Montaner hopes that everyone will step forward voluntarily.