THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN’S MAIN CAMPUS IS SITUATED ON TREATY 6 TERRITORY AND THE HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS.

HIV

  • By November 15, 2013

    Regular Human Immunodeficiency Virus testing will remove stigmas surrounding the disease, creating more awareness and knowledge about this worldwide epidemic.

  • HIV tests soon to be standardized

    By October 31, 2013

    To reduce the number of unaware HIV-infected people, the Saskatchewan HIV Provincial Leadership Team is standardizing testing for the virus with the routine blood work done with yearly checkups.

  • High HIV rates in Saskatchewan have many demanding harm reduction

    By February 27, 2013

    Saskatchewan has the highest HIV infection rates in all of Canada, and the number is growing. Some are looking to Vancouver’s experience with Insite as inspiration for harm reduction techniques.

  • Ban on gay men’s blood misguided: potential donors should be screened on basis of behaviour, not orientation

    By March 23, 2012

    In the mid-1980s at the height of the AIDS scare, nations around the world banned blood donations from gay men.

    Almost 30 years later, though, we live in a very different world. We now know how the virus spreads and how to safeguard against infection. Testing has been refined such that certain types of tests, namely Nucleic Acid Tests, can detect HIV within two to three weeks. There is no need for the kind of blanket donor ban that focuses on a person’s innate characteristics, like sexuality, rather than how safe his or her behaviours are.

    Simply put, people’s sexual orientations have no bearing on whether or not they are likely to have HIV.

  • Loneliness and isolation are still a problem for HIV patients

    By March 2, 2012

    Despite the fact that new cases of HIV have largely levelled off across Canada, Saskatchewan has a surging infection rate. Over the past few weeks, the Sheaf has examined why this is the case and what can be done about it from the perspective of people dealing with the situation. This week is the final installment of the series, in which the Sheaf talks to both a doctor treating HIV-positive patients and someone who has been diagnosed with HIV.

  • Saskatchewan acts to curb new HIV cases

    By February 9, 2012

    Despite the fact that new cases of HIV have largely levelled off across Canada, Saskatchewan has a surging infection rate. Over the next few weeks, the Sheaf will examine why this is the case and what can be done about it from the perspective of people dealing with the situation. This week: a look at how the provincial government treats patients and how they plan to curb new infections.

  • “Everyone is watching Saskatchewan:” province’s HIV infections a cause for concern

    By February 1, 2012

    Since 2002, the number of new HIV infections in Saskatchewan per year has risen steadily, from 26 to 200. And while there was a slight drop in 2010, AIDS Saskatoon expects the 2011 numbers will almost certainly show another increase once they are available.

  • World Aids Day reminds there is still work to do

    By December 8, 2011

    Robert Birch was 27 years old when he received a phone call from his doctor who told him that he was living with HIV.

    “We were doing a performance that day called Happy Virus Day, coincidentally,” said Birch. “So there was this performance piece going on in the middle of the street and me going around with a camera and a mic asking people if they knew anybody with HIV.