Dealing with AIDS in Canada: The Unmet Challnenge. A Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance regarding fiscal Priorities for the Future.

The British Columbia Persons with AIDS Society presented its position on AIDS funding priorities to the Federal Government on October 27, 2003. The Society believes that up to that point the Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS (CHSA) had been successful especially in comparison to other countries. However the Strategy is no longer sufficiently funded especially given HIV's move into new and often more difficult to reach populations. With 4,200 new infections each year, HIV is costing Canada $600 million in direct future medical costs and if the current rate of infection were reduced to 1,700, $1.4 billion would be saved in the next five years. The Society recommends that the budget of the CSHA be increased to $125 million per year to fund the scale of response necessary to beat HIV/AIDS in Canada.