The number of new HIV cases in Saskatchewan grew last year despite record funding to slow the spread of the disease.
Preliminary data from the ministry of health reports 199 new cases of HIV in 2019, an 18 per cent increase from the prior year.
Saskatchewan’s transmission rate is roughly double the national average — and the highest among provinces — despite years of concentrated efforts from provincial and federal governments.
“I think it’s very concerning,” minister of health Jim Reiter said Wednesday.
The province has invested more than $43 million in its HIV strategy since it was launched in 2010. It also put $450,000 in new annual funding into the province’s 31 harm reduction sites, which aim to reduce issues associated with drug use such as the spread of HIV.
Reiter said further action is needed in light of the new results.
“Obviously with the new infection rates, it’s extremely concerning,” he said. “We’re going to have to look at what we’re doing in terms of education … we’re going to have to do better.”
Saskatchewan First Nations have been disproportionately affected by HIV — but some evidence suggests they’re making strong headway towards preventing new cases.
Wednesday marked the fourth HIV Know Your Status forum in Saskatoon, a two-day forum hosted by Big River First Nation in partnership with the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation and the Saskatoon Tribal Council.
Big River First Nation may have been the first Indigenous community in the world to reach a United Nations goal of having 90 per cent of HIV sufferers tested and treated so they have repressed viral loads, meaning they can no longer transmit the disease.
“It’s basically bringing our youth and our elders together and recognizing that need,” Big River First Nation Chief Jack Rayne said.
Dr. Ibrahim Khan, the federal Indigenous Services Canada health officer who tracks infectious diseases on Saskatchewan First Nations, cautions the agency does not yet have its figures looking specifically at on-reserve HIV transmission in the province.
But the rate of HIV among First Nations people has declined in recent years, even though it’s still higher than the provincial average.
Khan attributed that success to increased funding — Indigenous Services dispenses around $4 million across the province’s First Nations to combat HIV — and innovation on the part of the communities. Twenty-two communities have programs encouraging regular testing and thirty-eight have harm reduction sites.
“We want to see zero cases of HIV in Saskatchewan First Nations within the next five years,” Khan said.
But Khan is worried about trends with other diseases. Preliminary data suggests there were six times as many syphilis cases in 2019 than in 2018 among Saskatchewan First Nations. He warns that could suggest the potential for another HIV outbreak.
“If you have HIV rates going down but your other rates are going up, that is a concern for us, because that could lead to another outbreak or cluster of HIV in this province,” Khan said.
BEATING HIV
HIV has changed. Medications for the disease are covered by provincial health plans and have relatively few side effects. Khan says someone with HIV who is treated within six months can be virally suppressed, meaning they will not pass the disease to other people.
“Once you are on treatment, you can live as healthily as someone with diabetes,” Khan said.
But while treatment has improved, Khan says more has to be done to tackle the primary driver of the disease. Unlike other jurisdictions, drug use — not sex — is the main means of HIV transmission in Saskatchewan.
“Addiction is the driver of these infections, and we haven’t dealt with addictions very adequately,” Khan said.
Saskatchewan’s ministry of health increased its mental health and addictions budget by $30 million last year, though a large portion of that went to staffing a psychiatric facility at a new hospital in North Battleford.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Reiter hinted more spending could be on the way.
“I can’t pre-empt the budget, but I think it’s fair to say you’re going to see this onus again on mental health and addictions issues,” Reiter said.
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