Canada must continue the fight against HIV

By Lethbridge Herald on December 2, 2025.

Jody Jollimore
For the Herald

It’s been nearly a decade since Canada signed on to a bold strategy at the World Health Assembly to eliminate HIV/AIDS as a public health concern by 2030. Although an international commitment, this wasn’t just about helping others abroad; it was a coordinated strategy by each country to follow a specific, science-driven path to improve the health of their own people. For our government, it was about delivering for Canadians.

The idea was that, by 2025, 95% of people with HIV should know their status, 95% of those diagnosed should be on treatment, and 95% of those on treatment should achieve viral suppression. Scientists projected that achieving all three of these targets would reduce transmission so significantly that the epidemic would end by 2030.

As we near the end of 2025, and with World AIDS Day on Dec.1, it’s time for a frank assessment. Are we on track?

The report card is mixed. Thanks to the efforts of community-based health organizations, researchers and healthcare providers, Canada has seen some progress:

• Most provinces have introduced or expanded programs to provide access to medications for prevention or treatment, both of which prevent the transmission of HIV.

• The previous federal government rolled out a time-limited HIV self-testing project, offering testing kits so Canadians could learn their HIV status in the privacy and comfort of their own homes.

• By 2022, we had met our target of achieving viral suppression among 95% of people on HIV treatment. This is important because individuals who are virally suppressed can’t pass it on to their sexual partners.

We have also seen challenges. Canada saw a 25 percent increase in HIV diagnoses in 2022, and a further 35 percent increase in 2023. Each new diagnosis represents a lifetime of treatment, medical care and support from our healthcare and social service systems, but we haven’t seen commensurate funding increases for the community-based organizations that provide this support.

You might be thinking, with governments tightening their purse strings, can we afford to provide this support? I would argue that we can’t afford to not provide it. Economists estimate that each new HIV diagnosis in Canada costs $1.44 million over a lifetime. New cases in 2021 alone are expected to generate $2.1 billion in costs. By giving HIV-negative and HIV-positive people access to the tools they need to protect their health and prevent transmission, we are reducing healthcare costs and supporting quality of life and economic productivity.

As we take stock of our progress, we watch an impending catastrophe unfold south of the border, where an administration is actively dismantling its public health infrastructure and retreating from global cooperation. Canada faces a choice: will we reaffirm our commitment to evidence-based public health and strive to meet our obligations, or will we follow the path of the U.S. administration?

This choice is not about international optics. It is not about charity. It is about our national interest. Failing to meet our own HIV targets has dire consequences at home. It means more new preventable infections. It means more people in Canada acquiring a condition that requires treatment and care for life. It means a greater long-term burden on our healthcare system and higher costs for taxpayers.

Investing in a comprehensive, well-funded domestic HIV strategy is an investment in the strength of our public health system. The contact tracing, lab networks and community trust built by Canada’s HIV response are the very same tools we leveraged to combat COVID-19, and will be leveraged to combat the next pandemic. To neglect this fight is to weaken our overall health security.

We made a promise to ourselves a decade ago. It’s a promise we must keep – not for our reputation, but for our health. It’s time for all levels of government to reject fragmentation and distraction and deliver the funded, equitable and urgent response that Canadians deserve. Our health, and our country’s resilience, depend on it.

Jody Jollimore is executive director of CATIE, Canada’s source for HIV and hepatitis C information.