It is almost beyond belief that more people than ever before in BC, 12-14,000, have HIV/AIDS.

We are blessed to live in a country, in a province, that provides life-extending HIV/AIDS medication resulting in many people celebrating years added to their lives. However, for many other British Columbians, living with HIV/AIDS is a very different story.

Of the 6,000-7,000 Downtown Eastside injection drug users, twenty-five percent, approximately 1600 people, are HIV positive. Many are assessed as not meeting the criteria for taking AIDS medication because of their unstable lives. Of the more than 50% who are eligible to take the medication, only 300 are doing so. This means there are approximately 1300 Downtown Eastside residents who are not reaping the life-extending benefits of AIDS medication. AIDS medication is available but out of reach. Limited social capacity is the barrier.

Recent studies have shown that the single biggest contributor to a person’s ability to take AIDS medication is their level of social capacity—the combination of a person’s skills, coping mechanisms, community support and access to other internal and external resources which form the foundation of one’s ability to survive and prosper.

The 1300 individuals not taking the AIDS medication are part of the growing number of AIDS patients in St. Paul’s Hospital—daily patient numbers not seen at the hospital since the early 1990s, before the advent of improved treatment. This is putting increasing pressure on acute and residential care resources.

The Dr. Peter Centre—the Day Health Program and 24-hour care Residence for people living with AIDS—has demonstrated that it contributes to improving social capacity. A study, “Engagement, Rehabilitation, and Quality of Life at the Dr. Peter Centre”, showed that those attending the day health program improved their quality of life and had a high therapeutic alliance with staff, a key determinant of engagement in rehabilitation. In addition, a study published in September 2002 Journal of AIDS showed that within one year of admission to the day health program, participants had a 55% reduction in their use of hospital beds. The Dr. Peter Centre will do what it can to continue to extend its Comfort Care services to many others who desperately need it.

On this World AIDS Day, let us, as a caring community—citizens, public policy makers, government, health care professionals, volunteers, donors— commit to removing the social capacity barrier to AIDS medication so that British Columbians in this tragic situation have hope for a longer, healthier life.

For more information please join us on Wednesday, December 1st from 8:15 - 9:00 a.m. at the Dr. Peter Centre for the first annual Reality Check: HIV/AIDS in BC 2004 & Beyond with a keynote address by Julio Montaner, MD, Acting Director, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

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