HIV and AIDS
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV attacks the immune system, resulting in a chronic, progressive illness and leaving infected people vulnerable to opportunistic infections and cancers. The median time from infection to AIDS diagnosis now exceeds 10 years. AIDS is fatal. There is no cure.
| World AIDS Day - December 1st, 2006 |
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 HIV is transmitted through:
- unprotected sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal, oral)
- shared needles or equipment for injecting drugs
- unsterilized needles for tattooing, skin piercing or acupuncture
- pregnancy, delivery and breast feeding (from an HIV-infected mother to her infant)
- occupational exposure in health care settings
HIV CAN NOT be transmitted through:
- casual, everyday contact
- shaking hands, hugging, kissing
- coughs, sneezes
- giving blood
- swimming pools, toilet seats
- sharing eating utensils, water fountains
- mosquitoes, other insects, or animals.
For more information on HIV/AIDS treatment and how to minimize your risk, consult It's Your Health factsheet on HIV/AIDS.
Government of Canada's Role
In January 2005, the Government of Canada launched the  Federal Initiative to Address HIV/AIDS in Canada and committed to pursuing a Government of Canada-wide approach to addressing HIV/AIDS. The Federal Initiative to Address HIV/AIDS in Canada signals a renewed and strengthened federal role in the Canadian response to HIV/AIDS. The Federal Initiative - a partnership of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Health Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Correctional Service Canada - will focus on addressing the complex social, human rights, biological and community barriers that continue to fuel the epidemic.
Recommendations from program reviews, evaluations and other consultative exercises, have signaled the need for the federal government to: develop discrete approaches to addressing the epidemic for people living with HIV/AIDS, gay men, injection drug users, Aboriginal people, prison inmates, youth and women at risk for HIV infection, and people from countries where HIV is endemic; to increase government collaboration at all levels – federal, provincial, territorial and municipal; to support the use of social marketing initiatives to increase public awareness of HIV/AIDS and encourage those who may be part of the hidden epidemic to access HIV/AIDS programs; to encourage greater integration of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment interventions with those of other diseases, as appropriate; to more broadly engage federal departments and agencies in the response, such as Citizen and Immigration Canada, and those that have mandates related to housing, disability, social justice, employment and other determinants of health; to increase its engagement in the global response to the epidemic, and; to improve the communication of outcomes achieved from federal investments in HIV/AIDS.
Canada has also responded to the global HIV/AIDS crisis. In May 2004, the Government committed funds to the World Health Organization's 3 by 5 initiative, to help provide anti-retroviral treatment to 3 million people with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2005. The Government is also extending its contribution in 2005 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In addition to these contributions, the Government has passed a bill to make less-expensive generic drugs available to developing and least developed countries facing public health challenges such as HIV/AIDS.
Resource Centres
Federal Initiative
Related Information
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