Globe & Mail Article: Canada & The United States Lead The World In Discriminating Against AIDS Victims.
André Picard
Vienna — From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Jul. 20, 2010 8:52PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2010 7:25AM EDT
Canada is second only to the United States when it comes to prosecuting people who infect others with HIV, a surprising new study reveals.
More than 600 people worldwide have been convicted of a crime after infecting a sexual partner with the AIDS virus, or because they potentially exposed others to the virus through spitting, biting, blood transfusion, oral sex or intercourse, according to data compiled by the Global Network of People Living with HIV.
Moono Nyambe, a program officer with the group, known as GNP+, said there have been criminal convictions related to the transmission of HIV in at least 50 countries since 2005.
Some 45 countries now have laws that specifically criminalize transmission of HIV, she said, while other countries use existing laws.
Prosecutions are becoming increasingly frequent and there is a marked escalation in the severity of charges and the punishment meted out, Ms. Nyambe said.
Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, said Canada is a case in point.
There have been 63 criminal convictions related to HIV-AIDS transmission in Canada. The charges include common nuisance, sexual assault and murder.
Mr. Elliott could point to no obvious reason why Canada has a high number of prosecutions, except that it is a country with a strong tradition of the rule of law. “When you have a political system with a lot of state regulation, that can be both positive and negative,” he said.
The first case of HIV transmission to be prosecuted in Canada occurred in 1998, when Henry Cuerrier of Squamish, B.C., was charged with aggravated assault for not telling two sexual partners he was infected with HIV. He was acquitted because neither woman became infected.
Last year, Johnson Aziga of Hamilton, Ont., was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder after he infected two sexual partners with HIV. Both women died of AIDS-related cancers.
The issue of criminal prosecution of those who transmit HIV-AIDS is complex, Mr. Elliott said. “This is not a black-and-white issue. It’s all shades of grey.”
The big problem in Canada is that prosecutions are arbitrary, and hence unfair, Mr. Elliott contends. For example, he said, charges have been laid against HIV-positive prisoners for spitting on correctional officers, as well as in cases of unprotected sex where no infection occurs, actions that in the ordinary course of events often have no legal consequences.
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is working with provincial justice officials to develop guidelines for prosecution.
According to the GNP+ report, the United States has the largest number of convictions related to exposure to HIV, at 205. The country is notable for prosecuting cases in which transmission of the virus is essentially nil, such as when an HIV-infected person spits on someone.
Ms. Nyambe said it is ironic that the vast majority of prosecutions for HIV transmission are in North America and Europe, which have a relatively low rate of infection. But she said there is a growing trend for countries in Africa and Asia – where the epidemic is widespread – to criminalize transmission of the virus.
Susan Timberlake, senior law and human-rights adviser with UNAIDS, said the organization has made it a priority to ensure the removal of “punitive laws, policies, practices, stigma and discrimination that block effective responses to HIV.”
Part of that battle, she said, is ensuring that prosecutions for HIV transmission are appropriate. According to UNAIDS, criminal charges are justified only when a person intentionally seeks to infect another with HIV-AIDS.
Ms. Timberlake noted that there are two divergent philosophies on criminal prosecution. One holds that tough laws will discourage irresponsible acts; the other that the fear of prosecution will lead those who are HIV-positive to avoid being tested and to hide their status.
Mr. Elliott said the reality is that there is no good evidence to back either view.
“We’re operating in an evidentiary vacuum,” he said. “But regardless of positions, there is a consensus that we need to bring some rationality to the use of criminal law.”
The main tenets of the Vienna Declaration
We, the undersigned, call on governments and international organizations, including the United Nations, to:
* Undertake a transparent review of the effectiveness of current drug policies.
* Implement and evaluate a science-based public health approach to address the individual and community harms stemming from illicit drug use.
* Decriminalize drug users, scale up evidence-based drug dependence treatment options and abolish ineffective compulsory drug treatment centres that violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.26
* Unequivocally endorse and scale up funding for the implementation of the comprehensive package of HIV interventions spelled out in the WHO, UNODC and UNAIDS Target Setting Guide.27
* Meaningfully involve members of the affected community in developing, monitoring and implementing services and policies that affect their liv
Globe & Mail Article: The AIDS Epidemic Is Exploding In Aboriginal & Immigrant Communities In The Province Of Saskatchewan!
André Picard Public Health Reporter
Vienna — From Friday’s Globe and Mail Published on Thursday, Jul. 22, 2010 12:51PM EDT Last updated on Friday, Jul. 23, 2010 12:42PM EDT
The number of annual cases of HIV-AIDS in Canada has risen back to 1982 levels, which is when the epidemic began ravaging the gay community.
But those being infected today are increasingly intravenous drug users, aboriginal people and immigrants in Canada, an epidemiological shift illustrated by the fact Saskatchewan is now the hotbed of HIV-AIDS in Canada, delegates at the International AIDS Conference heard Thursday.
“The epidemic has changed,” said Steffanie Strathdee, associate dean of global health sciences at the University of California, San Diego.
She noted that, a decade ago, virtually all HIV-AIDS cases were found in the big three provinces: Ontario, Quebec and B.C. But now “the Prairies are catching up.”
The incidence rate – the number of new cases per capita – is twice as high in Saskatchewan as Ontario.
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Health confirmed the rates of HIV-AIDS are the highest in Canada: 20.3 per 100,000 population versus 9.3 per 100,000 national average. A spokeswoman said the facts behind the numbers are unique in the province, with a staggering 75 per cent of the cases among IV drug users, and aboriginal and Métis women accounting for a large number of the cases.
The Minister of Health, Don McMorris, said in a written statement that Saskatchewan has allocated $2.5-million to a three-year HIV-AIDS strategy and it will target those high-risk groups.
“HIV and AIDS is a very serious issue for our province,” he said. “It’s vital that we work collaboratively with First Nations
and Métis and health and community based partners. This issue needs to be addressed on many levels.”
Dr. Strathdee said while the patterns of HIV-AIDS have changed notably, the response has not.
“I’m a proud flag-waving Canadian but I’m ashamed that the Canadian National AIDS Strategy has withered,” she said. “We can and should do better.”
Her views were echoed by Ron Rosenes, vice-chairman of the Canadian Treatment Action Council, who said: “We have developing world conditions in pockets of our country and it’s reflected in our AIDS statistics.”
He said domestic spending on HIV-AIDS has been cut back, to about $74-million a year, “so we don’t have the money to engage in targeted prevention programs.”
Trish McAlaster/The Globe and Mail
Source: Public Health Agency of Canada
In her address to the conference, Dr. Strathdee presented a detailed epidemiological portrait of the epidemic in the U.S. and Canada.
There are approximately 65,000 people living with HIV-AIDS in Canada and 1.1 million in the U.S.
Those numbers are growing with approximately 3,300 new infections annually in Canada, compared with 56,300 in the U.S.
Infections are rising steadily in Canada, while they have leveled off in the U.S, the researcher said. That is just one of many differences between the neighbouring countries.
What they have in common, however, is a remarkable drop in deaths since the introduction of antiretroviral drugs in 1996. In Canada the number of annual deaths from HIV-AIDS has fallen to about 500 a year from a high of almost 1,800; in the U.S. the number of annual deaths has gone from more than 50,000 a year to fewer than 18,000.
Another common trait in Canada and the United States is how the impact of the epidemic has shifted to poor, minority communities.
“Inequities are clear drivers of the epidemic,” Dr. Strathdee said. These include inequities of race, ethnic group, gender, sexual orientation and immigration status.
“All this translates into unequal access to prevention and care,” she said.
Another problem common to the two countries is the large number of people infected with HIV-AIDS who do not know their status. It is one in four in Canada and one in five in the U.S., Dr. Strathdee said. That is particularly troubling because treatment is readily available that can keep the illness at bay.
In her presentation, Dr. Strathdee said while the HIV-AIDS epidemic is following the same overall pattern in Canada and the U.S., it is actually evolving differently when you dig deeper into the data.
In the U.S., more than half of all new infections (54 per cent) are occurring among men who have sex with men. In Canada it is 44 per cent.
In contrast, 36 per cent of new cases in Canada are among heterosexuals, compared to 32 per cent in the U.S.
One of the most notable differences, however, is among intravenous drug users. In Canada, 17 per cent of new cases are among IV drug users, compared with 11 per cent in the U.S.
“Our federal government has dropped the ball on harm reduction,” Mr. Rosenes said. “We are increasingly imprisoning people for drug use instead of getting them the help they need.”
The ethnic portrait of HIV-AIDS sufferers is also markedly different in the two countries. In Canada, the highest incidence rates are, by far in immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, followed by aboriginals. (It should be noted, in Canada, immigrants and refugees undergo mandatory HIV testing.)
In the U.S., African-American men are far and away the hardest hit group, followed by Latinos, Pacific Islanders and American Indians.
The data Dr. Strathdee presented are from the Public Health Agency of Canada and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled what he called a comprehensive national strategy to fight HIV-AIDS in the United States.
The plan promises to reduce infections by 25 per cent within five years, and increase the number of infected people who are aware of their HIV-positive status, and those who are treated.
Canada’s strategy does not have hard targets for reducing the number of HIV infections.
CBC Article: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Blasted At The World AIDS Conference In Vienna Austria.
PM, Aglukkaq slammed on AIDS at world meeting
Canada isn’t doing enough to fight AIDS at home or around the world, the Canadian head of the International AIDS Society said Friday.
In his closing address to the International AIDS Conference in Vienna on Friday, conference chief Dr. Julio Montaner slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.
“I would also like to have a special word of recognition to the prime minister of Canada, Mr. Stephen Harper … for demonstrating, yet again, their incredible ability to take credit where none is due.”
Montaner, one of Canada’s most prominent AIDS researchers, said the federal government is “punching well below its weight” in funding international efforts to fight the disease and isn’t doing enough to protect Canadians from its spread.
U.S. support
U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged U.S. support in the global fight against AIDS in pre-recorded video statements at the close of the International AIDS Conference in Vienna on Friday.
“Ending this pandemic won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight,” Obama told delegates gathered for the conference’s closing ceremony. “But thanks to you, we’ve come a long way — and the United States is committed to continuing that progress.”
In her comments, Clinton said the U.S. believes access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care should be a universal and shared responsibility, and called health a human right.
During the conference, activists slammed rich G8 countries, including Canada, for failing to deliver on their commitment to ensure everyone infected with HIV and AIDS gets treatment by 2010.
In 2005, G8 leaders committed to developing and implementing an Africa-focused package for HIV prevention, treatment and care with the aim of getting “as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010.”
Treating drug use as a health issue instead of a criminal one cuts down on the spread of AIDS, said Glyn Townson, chair of the British Columbia Persons with AIDS Society.
“If you get people connected to services, whether they’re active drug users or not, the HIV medications will work, and that also decreases chance of the disease spreading further,” Townson said.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said the government is spending $72 million inside Canada on AIDS this year and more than $150 million a year internationally.
Share Newspaper: Why Is The Mainstream Toronto Media Only Focusing On The White Male Candidates In The Mayoral Race?
Diversity in leadership
The early slate of six so-called front-runner candidates in the current Toronto mayoral race has essentially been decided by local news media which focused the spotlight on these candidates to the exclusion of some other serious contenders. And, with the exception of the one woman who was among the chosen, there largely because of the novelty of her gender – together with the fact that, as a magazine publisher, she is also a member of the media – the other five are all White males.
Editorial boards – themselves mainly comprised of White males – made the decision as to who is considered a front-runner, and who their reporters will focus on. One newspaper seems to have already begun to focus its attention – and, ostensibly, its support – on a specific candidate.
Therein lies a challenge that we face here in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world. Media executives can decide on whom to put the spotlight among those running for political office and in so doing skew the chances of election in favour of the chosen. These are the people who, once elected, will manage the affairs of the city that affect all of us on a daily basis.
Up to now, this system has played into the observable outcome that ethnic and gender representation at Toronto City Council does not begin to mirror the population in this city. So how important is it that we have a broader range of ethnicities represented on editorial boards, especially here in Toronto?
A recent study by Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute underlines this issue. The study, DiverseCity Counts, found that while 49.5 per cent of our local population can be identified as ‘visible minority’ only 14 per cent of leaders are drawn from that broad grouping. News media, which have such an impact on our everyday lives, come in at an even lower percentage.
According to the study, federally regulated corporations subject to the Employment Equity Act are doing a better job of ensuring diversity in their leadership than those in the private sector, including the news media, which are at 4.8 per cent compared to 4.1 per cent in the broader private sector.
It is due to the Employment Equity Act that there are more individuals across a range of ethnicities represented at the university executive level and in banks. In the television industry, which is federally regulated, we see a broader range of ethnic diversity in front of the camera as well as a significant female presence, yet the executives who make the weightier decisions are not similarly diverse.
Given the current pattern, it could be decades before someone will be recruited from an ethnic pool of talent to assume the stature of a Peter Mansbridge. At least, CTV plans to replace Lloyd Robertson, upon his retirement, with a woman, Lisa LaFlamme. Similarly, Global Television has announced that Dawna Friesen will replace Kevin Newman as news anchor and executive editor.
The study’s focus on the media is important because news media have the power to significantly influence public opinion. How news stories about members of ethnic communities are translated to the public leaves an impression on the broader community for better or for worse. The decisions about which activities to highlight and in what manner are within the power of the editors in newsrooms. There may not categorically be ill intentions when stories are covered with a negative slant regarding, for example, the Black community, but there is not enough of an ethnic balance in the makeup of the editorial executive to be able to knowledgably and objectively shape many of the issues that arise. If there isn’t a single editorial member from the Black community keenly in touch with the community then it becomes that much easier to objectify Black people when stories involving us are reported in the mainstream. That has been very clear all along.
There is no shortage of qualified individuals who can be drawn into editorial boards for the good of this city and all its people, but media decision makers need to get on with the business of laying the foundation for a balanced society instead of contributing to what we have now, a growing underclass.
Gayblackcanada 