LOCAL PROGRAMS AIMED AT PREVENTING SPREAD OF HIV

WATERLOO REGION - Most days Dr. Chris Steingart sees at least one new
patient with HIV or hepatitis in his Waterloo office.

The growing complacency around HIV/AIDS, even among those at higher-
risk for contracting the virus, worries the infectious disease
specialist.

"It makes me realize we're not doing a good enough job in educating
people about it," Steingart said.

Steingart is the clinical director of the Sanguen Health Centre, which
opened in January to offer local care to patients with hepatitis C who
before had to travel out of town. It's also a satellite office of the
Guelph-based Masai Centre caring for HIV patients.

"Unfortunately, we still see people being infected with the virus,"
Steingart said.

Wednesday is World AIDS Day.

Worldwide, 33.3 million people are living with HIV, including 2.5
million children under 15, according to the United Nation's HIV/AIDS
program called UNAIDS. About 2.6 million were newly infected last year
and 1.8 million died.

"I think people need to be aware AIDS is still a problem," Steingart
said.

And not just in African nations ravaged by the disease, but also at
home. Steingart's patient roster is steadily growing at the centre,
which has an innovative approach of combining services for both HIV
and hepatitis C. Commonly people are infected with both viruses,
although hepatitis C infection is about five times as prevalent as
HIV.

Waterloo Region has about 400 HIV patients, Steingart said, and
upwards of 4,000 people with hepatitis C. However, about a third of
people with the liver disease don't know it.

Many people at greater risk for HIV and hepatitis, including
intravenous drug users and those not practising safer sex, are not
getting tested and that is why the viruses continue to spread, he
said.

Educating higher-risk groups is essential, which is why outreach is a
big part of the centre's work. The Masai Centre works closely with the
AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo to connect people
with support services and now Steingart has government funding to
develop the same holistic approach for hepatitis patients.

Accessing health and social services is difficult for marginalized
groups, including those suffering from substance abuse or serious
mental illness or experiencing homelessness, Steingart said.

The International Federation of Red Cross said Friday governments are
failing injecting drug users by treating them as criminals and denying
health services they need to stop the spread of HIV. More than three
million of the world's estimated 15.9 million injecting drug users are
living with HIV, the organization reported.

It urged more government support for harm reduction initiatives,
including substitution therapy, condom distribution, education and
needle exchange programs.

Waterloo Region's needle exchange service has grown steadily since its
launch 15 years ago, providing new needles, sterile water, alcohol
swabs and other items for safer injecting to reduce the spread of
blood-borne infections.

Last year just under 3,000 people visited sites needle exchange sites
located around the region - almost double the 1,600 in the previous
year. More than 200,000 needles were handed out in 2009, up 17 per
cent from 2008.

"It has grown every year," said Lesley Rintche, manager of Public
Health's sexual health and harm reduction programs.

Meanwhile, infection rates have stabilized or decreased in recent
years.

New HIV cases had only small increases from 2005 to 2008, and then
dropped by 57 per cent in 2009 to nine. Hepatitis C infections have
been relatively stable over the past five years at about 100 new cases
a year

"This definitely helps to minimize the risk to the community," Rintche
said.

Medication now effectively treats HIV to extend and improve a person's
life, Steingart said, although many people in the world suffering with
the disease simply don't have access.

"It's literally wiping out almost a whole generation of people in some
parts of the world," he said.

In Canada and other developed nations, the availability of powerful
drugs has perhaps also lessened worries about HIV/AIDS compared to
decades ago when the deadly virus appeared, Steingart said. Even with
treatment, it is a difficult diagnosis.

"It's a manageable illness," Steingart said, "but by no means is it
something easy to live with."