by Doug Ward
Research projects aimed at halting the AIDS virus are threatened by the Liberal government's failure to guarantee long-term funding, say physicians and activists.
Many current studies could grind to a halt without a quick renewal of federal AIDS money, scheduled to lapse in March 31, 1998, they told a Vancouver press conference Friday. The national AIDS strategy was launched in 1989, with an initial five-year commitment. A second five-year funding program was announced in 1993 and ends next year.
Canada stands to lose some of its best young AIDS researchers unless Ottawa commits itself to an extension of the strategy, Dr. Martin Schechter said. "There is a study of young gay men in Vancouver, showing very high infection rates, that we will not be able to continue given the current Canadian response," added Schechter.
The issue of AIDS funding comes at a time of optimism over recent breakthroughs in AIDS treatments. AIDS death rates are for the first time starting to fall because of new drug treatments. But there are alarming rates of infection among young gay men and intravenous drug users, said Schechter, director of the Canadian HIV Trials Network, based at Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital.
Ottawa announced earlier this year that it put another $5 million into HIV/AIDS clinical trials testing the effectiveness of experimental drug therapy. AIDS activists applauded the move, but noted that the drug trials funding is only about five per cent of the national AIDS strategy. Schechter warned that Ottawa's delayed response conflicts with previous promises of enhanced funding by Prime Minister Jean Chretíen and the Liberals.
"Canada is becoming a banana republic in that our government is less interested in Canadian research in the area of HIV/AIDS than the Americans."
Schechter was joined at the press conference by Dr. Steffanie Strathdee, a young epidemiologist involved in the study of young gay males in Vancouver.
"The infrastructure for these studies took years to develop," said Strathdee. "Without a renewed commitment, the rug is being pulled out from underneath it."
Strathdee said she and many other AIDS
researchers could be forced to drop current projects and look
for grants elsewhere, perhaps in the U.S.
For more information, contact:
Bonnie Devlin
Vanguard Project Coordinator
608 - 1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6Z 1Y6
Tel: (604)806-8306
Fax: (604)806-9044