Canadian HIV and AIDS organizations say an international AIDS conference opening in Montreal this week is shining a light on Canada’s lagging response to the disease.
Advocates say federal funding for HIV and AIDS has been frozen since 2008, even though the number of people in Canada living with HIV has risen by 25 per cent since then.
They are calling for federal funding to be increased from around $73 million a year to $100 million.
Richard Elliott, a former executive director of Toronto-based HIV Legal Network, says that not only has funding been frozen but money dedicated to AIDS research has been used to fight other sexually transmitted diseases.
He says the federal government has recently used money from budgets for HIV and AIDS to fund groups responding to the monkeypox outbreak in the country.
Ken Monteith, executive director of a network of AIDS organizations in Quebec called COCQ-SIDA, says Canada is not on track to meet global targets regarding the sexual health of people living with HIV.
AIDS 2022, the 24th International AIDS Conference, is scheduled to take place from July 29 to Aug. 2 at Palais des congres de Montreal.
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