by PATRICK LEJTENYI

Thursday, Dec. 1, marks the 17th annual World AIDS Day. And if progress has been made, in North America at least, in increasing the public’s knowledge about transmission, prevention and treatment, some local AIDS groups are worrying that it’s slipping away, particularly among the young. Women especially, it seems, are most at risk of contracting new infections.

In response, the non-profit Centre for AIDS Services of Montreal (Women), sex-workers’ rights group Stella and others are releasing a “blueprint for action” on Dec. 1 to address the needs of women around the world, but in particular in Canada, and countries where its international partners are located—the States, Thailand and Rwanda.

“Our demands will concern laws, human rights, resources, stigmatization and discrimination, along with ensuring equitable treatment and access to medication at a reasonable cost,” says Daniella Boulay, the Centre’s director.

Small town silence

According to her, women aren’t getting the attention they deserve even though they constitute a significant proportion of new infections. “Women make up 42 per cent of new HIV infections in Canada, but only five per cent in clinical trials” of new AIDS-fighting drugs, she says. “Pharmaceutical companies aren’t doing enough of an effort to get women in. It stays male-focussed. I’ve never had a pharmaceutical company ask me for women for clinical trials, even though I’ve asked them.”

Aboriginal women in particular are at risk, she says. According to data available to the federal Public Health Agency, women make up 45 per cent of aboriginals living with HIV, while women make up 19.5 per cent of all Canadians with HIV. The majority of infections among aboriginals come via intravenous drug use. The problem, says Boulay, may be far worse than the figures state.

“The infection rates are staggering,” she says. “Women don’t divulge things very easily, and women in isolated communities keep these kind of things to themselves. Revealing that you’re HIV-positive can be a problem in a small town.”

It can also be a problem for prostitutes. The current legal framework surrounding prostitution makes life even more difficult and dangerous, says Stella director Claire Thiboutot.

“We’re calling for the decriminalization of sex workers from all levels of government as a means to make sure that the human rights of sex workers are sustained and respected,” says Thiboutot. “We want sex workers to be afforded the same rules of health and safety that all workers have. We look at sex work as work, and we want to keep it that way.”

Crossing all lines

Thiboutot sees the same problems regarding AIDS, and other sexually transmitted infections, in the population at large mirrored in sex trade workers. Largely, it’s ignorance and a lack of information.

Surprisingly, however, that ignorance isn’t confined to young people with multiple sex partners. A recent McGill study points out that a mere 1.4 per cent of Canadian doctors and STI clinic workers knew that the probability of transmitting HIV through one encounter of unprotected vaginal intercourse was below 0.5 per cent.

Ken Monteith, the executive director of AIDS Community Care Montreal (ACCM), says he sees the effects a blithe attitude towards the disease can have firsthand. “People are saying, ‘Well, I’m not an older gay man, so I don’t need to worry about this,’” he says. And given that treatment allows people to live longer and better, he thinks, younger gay men aren’t taking necessary precautions. However, Boulay, Thiboutot and Monteith all point out that there is still vast discrimination against people who are HIV-positive.

“It’s really easy for us to think that we’re spoiled North Americans and we’ve got it easy because we’ve got the treatment,” says Monteith. “But being in treatment isn’t so easy. Life is a daily trial. So our prevention message is to take it seriously and protect yourself. That, and have a little empathy for people who are HIV-positive.”

ACCM and other AIDS-related groups will be holding a 15-minute vigil on Thursday, Dec. 1 at Parc de l’Espoir (Panet and Ste-Catherine E.) at 5:30 p.m. Events will move afterwards indoors to Station C (1450 Ste-Catherine E.).

Monteith will also be speaking Dec. 1 the Martin Theatre at McGill’s McIntyre Medical Building (Pine entrance) at 3:30 p.m. At 6:30 p.m., South African journalist Henk Roussouw will deliver a keynote address in McGill’s Leacock Building (Rm. 132), with a candlelight vigil planned for 7:30 p.m. on the Arts Building steps.