World AIDS Day- the 40th Anniversary

 World AIDS Day- 40th Anniversary.

In 2023, AIDS claimed 630,000 lives worldwide and 1.3 million people were newly infected. Almost half of these new infections were among young women and girls. Globally, there are 39 million people living with HIV.

When I started treating HIV in 1990, all of my patients died within a few years with the exception of a few. There were no treatments. The HIV treating physicians in the province of Ontario at the time became experts in the palliative care management of the patient dying of AIDS. I loved them all. My heart aches to this day when I think of each one of them. I was in my 20s and so were they. Today, they might be grandparents or happy retirees still living with their partners and loving their friends and families.

In 2006, that all changed with the advent of new life-saving treatments which involved a handful of pills taken three times a day. The treatment was toxic and caused so many side effects but people lived. Fast forward 19 years later and my patients are now treated with either one pill once a day or injections given every two months with few side effects. We are growing old together and I love them all. They have careers and partners and families and lives. It has been an honour treating this disease for 35 years, watching how the world responded and how my patients lived on as a result. We are so close to a cure; to the end of AIDS.

Today, 9 million people in resource poor countries do not have access to this life-saving treatment. Every week, 4,000 adolescent girls and young women are newly infected with HIV.

But there is so much hope. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS) set the 95-95-95 declaration that called on all member states to ensure that 95% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 95% of people who know their status are receiving HIV treatment, and 95% of people on treatment are virally suppressed - the goal of treatment. People who are virally suppressed cannot transmit and can live normal, healthy lives.

Today, Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe have reached these targets. A further 16 other countries, eight of them in sub-Saharan Africa, the region which accounts for 65% of all people living with HIV, are also close to doing so.

This is the path that will end AIDS. This path will also help prepare for and tackle future pandemics and advance progress towards achieving all of the Sustainable Development Goals.

If you are not aware of these goals, check them out: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

I love these goals. They are the reason I am on a political path. We can achieve them all if leaders lead and we all take action.

For those I loved who passed away and to those I love who have a future, I mark with respect and humility, this 40th World AIDS Day.

Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik
MD CCFP O. Ont. MSM
Founder of ARCH Clinic Guelph and Waterloo
( now called HIVe Clinic)
Founder of Bracelet of Hope

Donate at https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-give/ as we strive to end AIDS and reach these goals in Lesotho, Africa.

Politics and Public Health

 

This is very strange for me. I am writing a post that is both for public health and for politics which I believe need to be combined in order to strive to make communities across the country, healthier. It's time for more MDs to become MPs.

First off, public health:

1/ There are 25 cases of measles in New Brunswick. Last year, two children died of measles in Ontario. This is a very infectious disease that spreads with ease among children who have not been vaccinated. Please consider vaccinating your child. There are two vaccines: the first is given at age one and the second at age four.

2/ Last night, two of my colleagues saw 47 people at our on call clinic. That is an overwhelming number. By far most of these folks were suffering from respiratory viruses. One respiratory virus is the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This too can be deadly. It causes mild to moderate cold symptoms in most people but in children under two and in adults over 65, the illness can cause severe symptoms that can lead to hospitalization. There is an RSV vaccine for kids born in 2024 and children under two who are at risk. There is also and adult vaccine for people over 65. The adult vaccine is not covered by OHIP or public health.

And now, to politics. I am the candidate for the Federal Green Party of Canada in the Guelph riding. I have chosen this path in order to focus on three things:

1/ To improve the quality of our healthcare system with a focus on primary care. Primary care is the care that is provided by your nurse practitioner or your family doctor. There will be 56,000 people in Guelph and area who will not have access to a primary care clinician in the next 18 months. Elect me as your Member of Parliament and I will work to build a clinic that cares for these patients while working on much needed primary care reform.

2/ To address housing, food and economic insecurity. In other words, affordability. This is a major concern for the Green Party of Canada. I witness the effects of the affordability crisis in my medical practise every day. I have been treating my patients for 34 years. I have never seen anything like the suffering many are experiencing now.

3/ To address the effects of climate change. We can lead our young people away from despair and into a bright future by highlighting what is already being done in our community and by fighting for what needs to be done by all levels of government.

I need your support. Please consider signing up to help with my political campaign. Man, I never thought I would write those words. Of all the things I have done in my career, this is by far the most terrifying. More than anything else, I need your encouragement. That's what kept me going as I posted during the pandemic. You inspired me.

If you would like to volunteer, click on this link:

https://www.greenparty.ca/en/volunteer?riding=2013-35032...

If you are able to donate, click on this link and read carefully about the significant tax rebates that you receive depending on the amount you donate:

https://www.greenparty.ca/en/civicrm/contribute/transact...

And finally, if you would like to order a lawn sign for the 2025 election, click here:

https://www.greenparty.ca/en/get-a-sign

Here's to a hopeful and healthier future.

Anne-Marie

Please share.

P.S. A modest woman raised by a good Italian mother, the thought of lawn signs with my name on them doesn't sit well. I will need your encouragement to keep up the fight once these signs sprout up around town.