Unstable housing makes access to B.C. AIDS treatment difficult: group
Last Updated: Sunday, December 2, 2007 | 6:55 PM PT
CBC News
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The B.C. Persons With AIDS Society says thousands of British Columbians with the disease are not receiving the medication and services available to them because they are low-income people with unstable housing.
'Because of unstable housing … they're not accessing that treatment.'— Glyn Townson, chair of the B.C. Persons With AIDS Society
About 4,000 people in B.C. are on antiretroviral therapy, which is a drug combination that helps control the HIV virus, said Glyn Townson, the group's chair.
"We know that there's at least 2,000 people here who meet the current criteria that should be treated but because of unstable housing [and] because of communication barriers, they're not accessing that treatment," Townson told CBC News.
Townson said he was diagnosed with the disease in 1995 but has been living a relatively full life thanks to the drugs developed to combat AIDS.
He said more treatment centres will help but with thousands homeless in Vancouver, getting those who are high risk tested and stabilized continues to be a huge challenge.
Townson said people should know there are better medications available and that finding out they have HIV-AIDS is no longer the death sentence it once was.
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