At a press conference, Mr. Marissal argued that the increase in new HIV diagnoses is worrying. “Every year we make somewhat the same observations and these years, unfortunately, we have made a rather serious observation that the situation is not improving, on the contrary, we are detecting more and more cases,” declared the holder. -QS health voice.
The motion reports a 37% increase in cases between 2019 and 2022 and that the upward trend is confirmed in the 2023 estimates.
According to the Coalition of Quebec Community Organizations to Fight AIDS (COCQ-SIDA), 422 new HIV diagnoses were recorded in 2022 compared to 246 in 2021. This represents an increase of 72%. Of this number, 78% of new HIV cases found were their first test.
“The pandemic has had an impact on access to screening. We are just starting to see the impacts. We cannot afford for the next health emergency to cancel screening activities for the population, more particularly for people in vulnerable situations or who are further away from the health system,” argued Hélène Hébert, general director of the organization Miels Québec.
“We were on the right trajectory, we deviated a little, we recognize it, we correct this trajectory. We must, we can do much better, we have a duty to do much better in Quebec. […] I will certainly follow up to ensure that we are able to resume the role we had as a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” promised Mr. Marissal.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, said in the House that we should not deny the fact that there is an increase in cases of sexually transmitted infections.
“We thought it was in decline. And it’s like another virus, it often smolders underneath, and, unfortunately, we have perhaps given up a little,” he admitted.
The motion also welcomes “the government’s desire to improve the screening offer and to evaluate the possibility of allowing rapid screening by community workers.” The elected officials also observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of AIDS.
Barriers to screening and care
Valérie Samson, general director of Réplique Estrie, an organization that supports people living with HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C, spoke at a press conference about the obstacles to accessing screening, but also treatment.
Ms. Samson maintains that there are not enough screening offers throughout Quebec. “Without screening, transmission is obviously very present. This is what we want to avoid as much as possible,” she says.
The director drew attention to the lack of diversity of service points. In Quebec, people can go to one of the screening clinics, which are mainly located in large centers, or go to a CLSC, certain Family Medicine Groups (GMF) or ask their family doctor for a test. .
“When we seek screening, sometimes we don’t know which door to knock on or how to get it. There are specific places, but they are often unknown to the population,” explains Ms. Samson.
She also raised the issue of staff shortages. “We understand that prevention, at certain times, is not always the priority and that there are other emergencies which are very important. But if we do not put forward prevention such as screening and if we do not replace nurses when they are on leave or on maternity leave, for example, that really creates a gap in services,” deplores Ms. Samson.
She also mentioned that access to care “is not as simple as you might think.” As most infectious disease specialists are located in large urban centers, there are mobility issues for certain patients in the regions, she says.
Proposed solutions
COCQ-SIDA and its partner organizations have addressed several demands to elected officials to improve the situation in Quebec. They demand in particular free HIV treatment and PrEP, which is a preventive treatment, as well as post-exposure prophylaxis.
HIV/AIDS organizations also want the government to carry out mass screening campaigns in the same way as is done for certain vaccination campaigns. Along the same lines, they propose organizing information and awareness campaigns aimed at the general population.
In order to counter a lack of information and existing stigmatization among health professionals, organizations suggest setting up training for medical staff to promote good practices related to STBBIs.
Among the other solutions put forward, we encourage Quebec to improve access to screening outside the health network, which would make it possible to reach clienteles who are reluctant to frequent the traditional health network.
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