Funding Increase to the Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS is Needed Now

Note:

Please see "Increase in funding ~ Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS". The Canadian Government has committed to increasing funding over the next 5 years!

Thank you to all of you that took time to let the government know about this important work!

Rick

(Ottawa, April 8, 2004) – The Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) supports representatives from HIV/AIDS organizations in Québec and Réal Ménard, Member of Parliament for Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in their call today for Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew to increase the federal funding allocation for the Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS (CSHA) to $100 million.

Members of the community-based AIDS movement were surprised not to see an increase in last month’s federal budget. Funding for the CSHA has remained at $42.2 million since 1993. According to Gail Flintoft, Chair of the Board of Directors of CAS, all signs suggested that an increase was forthcoming. “Last June, the former Minister of Health, Anne McLellan, made the commitment that she would be going to Cabinet for an increase in funding.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, also in June, recommended the funding allocation be increased to $100 million and Minister Pettigrew stated in the House of Commons that HIV/AIDS was a priority for this government.

If HIV/AIDS was a priority for this government, I would ask the Minister why he hasn’t gone to Cabinet to request an increase and why was an increase not included in last month’s budget,” said Flintoft.

Recent statistics indicate that approximately 55,000 Canadians are living with HIV/AIDS. Of that number, 17,000 Canadians are unware of their HIV infection. Last year alone, there were 5000 new infections in Canada. Canada is falling behind the epidemic and every new infection places extra costs on the health system.

“An increase in funding would result in long-term cost savings. Each prevented case of HIV would save approximately $180,000. If
the current rate of infection at 5,000 cases per year was even reduced to 1,700 cases per year,$4 billion would be saved in the next five years,” said Flintoft.

It is expected that the responsibility for the CSHA will shift from Health Canada to the new Public Health Agency. Consequently, the community-based AIDS movement fears that the focus of the government over the coming year will be setting up the bureaucracy for the Agency and not on fighting HIV/AIDS. “Shifting HIV/AIDS to the new Agency is only going to cause further delays for a funding increase to the CSHA,” said Flintoft.

Community-based AIDS organizations are facing multiple demands with a lack of resources. A renewed Strategy with a larger funding allocation will provide much needed assistance. “HIV/AIDS is preventable,” said Flintoft. “Until there is proper funding in place, more and more Canadians will become infected. When will the government wake up and do the right thing and increase the funding allocation to the CSHA?”

The CAS is a coalition of 115 community-based AIDS organizations across Canada. The CAS mandate is to speak as a national voice and act as a forum for a community-based response to HIV infection, as well as to advocate for persons so affected.
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For media interviews or more information, please contact:

Mark Creighan, Canadian AIDS Society
Tel.: (613) 230-3580 ext. 122
Cell: (613) 724-9540
E-mail: markc@cdnaids.ca
www.cdnaids.ca