Quebec becomes 1st province to cover new HIV prevention drug
Quebec is now the first province in Canada to publicly cover part of the cost of a new HIV prevention drug experts call a much-needed intervention. Apretude is a long-acting injectable drug that could replace daily oral pills.
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Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Hundreds of laid-off CDC employees are being reinstated
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 460 laid-off employees at the nation's top public health agency received notices Wednesday that they are being reinstated, according to a union representing the workers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed reinstatement notices went out to the former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees, but provided few details. About 2,400 CDC employees lost their jobs in a wave of cuts across federal health agencies in early April, according to a tally at the time. Whole CDC programs were essentially shut down, including some focused on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and air quality, and workplace safety and health. The entire office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests was shuttered. Infectious disease programs took a hit, too, including programs that fight outbreaks in other countries, labs focused on HIV and hepatitis in the U.S., and staff trying to eliminate tuberculosis. An estimated 200 of the reinstated workers are based in the CDC's National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention, HHS officials confirmed. Staffers at a CDC lab that does testing for sexually transmitted diseases are being brought back, said one CDC employee who wasn't authorized to discuss what happened and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Also reinstated are an estimated 150 employees at the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, including people staffing a lab that works on lead poisoning, according to the union and employees. Layoffs at federal agencies were challenged in lawsuits, with judges in some cases ordering federal agencies to halt terminations of employees. Officials at HHS have never detailed how they made the layoff decisions in the first place. And they did not answer questions about why the notices went out, or how decisions were made about who to bring back. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the agency was streamlining operations and that 'the nation's critical public health functions remain intact and effective.' 'The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services — whether it's supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,' he said. This is not the first time that employees at the Atlanta-based agency were told they were being terminated only to then be told to come back. After an earlier round of termination notices went out in February, about 180 CDC employees in March were told to come back. __ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Hundreds of laid-off CDC employees are being reinstated
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 460 laid-off employees at the nation's top public health agency received notices Wednesday that they are being reinstated, according to a union representing the workers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed reinstatement notices went out to the former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees, but provided few details. About 2,400 CDC employees lost their jobs in a wave of cuts across federal health agencies in early April, according to a tally at the time. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Whole CDC programs were essentially shut down, including some focused on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and air quality, and workplace safety and health. The entire office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests was shuttered. Infectious disease programs took a hit, too, including programs that fight outbreaks in other countries, labs focused on HIV and hepatitis in the U.S., and staff trying to eliminate tuberculosis. An estimated 200 of the reinstated workers are based in the CDC's National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention, HHS officials confirmed. Staffers at a CDC lab that does testing for sexually transmitted diseases are being brought back, said one CDC employee who wasn't authorized to discuss what happened and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Also reinstated are an estimated 150 employees at the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, including people staffing a lab that works on lead poisoning, according to the union and employees. Layoffs at federal agencies were challenged in lawsuits, with judges in some cases ordering federal agencies to halt terminations of employees. Officials at HHS have never detailed how they made the layoff decisions in the first place. And they did not answer questions about why the notices went out, or how decisions were made about who to bring back. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the agency was streamlining operations and that 'the nation's critical public health functions remain intact and effective.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services — whether it's supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,' he said. This is not the first time that employees at the Atlanta-based agency were told they were being terminated only to then be told to come back. After an earlier round of termination notices went out in February, about 180 CDC employees in March were told to come back. __ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Province
6 hours ago
- The Province
B.C. experts sound the alarm over rising number of HIV cases
With U.S. cuts to programs putting millions at risk, Canada needs to provide leadership to help prevent a resurgence of HIV: expert Dr. Julio Montaner is physician-in-chief at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG Canadians can spend money now to stop the spread of HIV, or face a much larger bill down the road, according to a leading Vancouver expert. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to cut back international medical aid makes investing in prevention even more vital, said Dr. Julio Montaner, executive-director and physician-in-chief at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Worldwide, the savings could be in the billions of dollars over time, he said. 'We did the same calculation for British Columbia, and the conclusion is the same: You spend a little bit more now, but then the savings are tremendous, in this case even exponentially greater than anything we've ever seen.' Last week, Montaner, who also heads the HIV/AIDS program at St. Paul's Hospital and is the chair of AIDS research at UBC and St. Paul's Foundation, hosted HIV experts from across Canada to warn about the rising incidence of HIV in Canada, and the threat U.S. cuts to HIV programs pose. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Montaner arrived in Vancouver in 1981 to do pulmonary research at UBC, about the same time the HIV/AIDS epidemic began. In those early days, patients were presenting primarily with a pneumococcal pneumonia, which is how Montaner got involved in HIV research. 'Patients would die from it, almost for sure,' he said. New drugs revolutionized the treatment for such patients to the point where 'that became a non-issue,' he said. With those results, he was approached by federal officials to work with new trial drugs, and by 1996 he had discovered that a combination of antiretroviral drugs could keep the disease at bay. 'It became the cornerstone of highly active antiretroviral therapy,' Montaner said. 'It was a miracle. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'People became well almost immediately. The amount of virus in their blood went down to nothing, their immunity recovered.' Despite groundbreaking work by the Canadian Treatment as Prevention group, or TasP, and a program known as HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, Canada is losing ground to HIV/AIDS, Montaner said. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have HIV diagnoses of almost 20 people per 100,000, six times B.C.'s rate of 3.3 per 100,000, based on 2023 statistics. B.C. in the mid-1990s had a rate almost as high as those two Prairie provinces do today, for the worst infection rate in Canada back then. But based on discussions with colleagues across Canada, the situation continues to deteriorate , Montaner said, with an expectation that HIV numbers were significantly higher in 2024, and higher yet again in 2025 even though the year is only half over. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Globally, Montaner said, it is estimated American funding cuts will lead to another 6.6 million new HIV infections and an additional 4.2 million AIDS-related deaths between 2025 and 2029. That affects B.C., he said, because most new HIV cases in the province stem from interprovincial and international migration. 'HIV does not respect borders. We have seen an increase in the number of HIV cases in British Columbia, and more than two-thirds of those cases are cases that come into the province with HIV from other jurisdictions.' Dr. Julio Montaner, executive director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, stands outside one of Vancouver's first indoor supervised inhalation rooms on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ashley Joanno / THE CANADIAN PRESS International rates of infant deaths and tuberculosis will be 'a total disaster,' he said. 'I don't kid you when I say that this is a crime against humanity, because if you withdraw services for people whose life depends on it, only one outcome is possible, and that is suffering and death. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It's why he called last week's meeting, he said. 'There is a sense of apathy across the land that is actually totally unacceptable. … The fact is, nobody cares about HIV/AIDS. Why? Because it affects marginalized, personal minorities, immigrants, the poor, the Downtown Eastside.' The U.S. provided half of the funding to fight HIV worldwide. Canada alone can't make up that shortfall, but should double its funding and encourage other donor countries to do the same, he said. 'Because if we don't, we're going to end up paying for it with death, and not only death and disease in other countries. The instability it generates is going to create huge migratory problems for all of us, and we're already hearing it, because people are running away from the United States, coming to Canada, because they are either transgender or gay or minorities or HIV infected.' gordmcintyre@ Read More Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Canucks Sports Local News
