Record number of HIV cases reported in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan continues to lead the country when it comes to new cases of HIV being reported per capita.

According to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, there were 237 new cases reported in the province in 2021.

That’s a 29 per cent increase from the 184 cases in 2020 and the most recorded in the province in a single year.

The number of new cases in Saskatchewan is roughly three times the national average.

It’s not just HIV that is seeing an increase in the province; sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia are also on the rise.

Dr. Johnmark Opondo, a medical health officer with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and an expert on HIV, offered some reasoning as to why Saskatchewan is at this point with new infections.

“I think some of the risk factors that make HIV acquisition likely — such as unsafe needle use or needle sharing or use of drugs — still continues to increase in Saskatchewan,” Opondo said. “The other pathway for HIV transmission is unprotected sexual encounters with multiple partners.

“If those two risk factors are still continuing, then unfortunately our numbers will continue.”

Opondo says more people per capita are injecting drugs in Western Canada than in the east and the problem has been getting particularly bad in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

“Living a life of chronic stress, poverty, disenchantment and drug use begins that whole vicious cycle,” he said.

“Saskatchewan and Manitoba are very, very similar. And unfortunately, our disease trends are similar. We may be at different stages of the epidemic, but I wouldn’t be surprised if our numbers and the increases that you’ve seen in Saskatchewan were also seen in Manitoba.”

The Ministry of Health is spending $5.979 million to support HIV services throughout the province.

In January, an HIV self-test initiative was launched to increase access to low-barrier testing. The self-tests are free of cost with kits being available at health centres, pharmacies and other places in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Rosthern, Nipawin, La Ronge, La Loche, Green Lake, North Battleford and Yorkton.

There are hopes that expanding the accessibility of HIV self-testing will directly support people in Saskatchewan who are most at risk for HIV.

Opondo says there is a lot of work to do in order to get numbers down.

“I think the first thing is we need to re-engage patients. I think claiming that the (COVID-19) pandemic didn’t have any impact or completely blaming the pandemic, neither of those statements are true,” he said.

“During the years 2010 to 2014, when we actually had a co-ordinated provincial strategy, that did help our numbers and turned the trend around. So, with focus and tighter co-ordination, I believe we can turn the situation around.”

Vidya Reddy, the education and information specialist for the AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan (APSS), believes there needs to be a new approach to curb the rising infections.

“Unlike the rest of the country, the main driver for HIV infections is from injection substance use,” Reddy said. “Ultimately, we have to make injection substance use and access to safe supplies widely prevalent across the province.

“Safe consumption sites, education — all these things must go hand in hand along with harm reduction measures.”

APSS is responsible for distributing around one million clean needles per year. It also provides education and outreach sessions in the community, as well as in schools and First Nations communities across Saskatchewan to promote HIV information testing and treatment.

Reddy says supporting harm reduction measures remains a vital aspect in lowering the number of HIV cases appearing in the province.

“There is a burden on the health-care system for every person who’s diagnosed with HIV,” Reddy said. “Their use of the health-care system dramatically decreases with harm reduction interventions.

“It saves health-care costs, it saves community costs, it increases safety, it decreases contact with the justice system and ultimately it saves our society an enormous amount of costs by saving lives.”