Canada's Report on HIV/AIDS 2004

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2 About the Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS

Goals of the CSHA

Building on the previous federal strategies, the CSHA was launched in 1998 with annual, ongoing federal funding of $42.2 million. Its goals are to:

• prevent the spread of HIV infection in Canada
• find a cure
• find and provide effective vaccines, drugs and therapies
• ensure care, treatment and support for Canadians living with HIV/AIDS, their families, friends and caregivers
• minimize the adverse impact of HIV/AIDS on individuals and communities
• minimize the impact of social and economic factors that increase individual and collective risk for HIV

In pursuing these goals, three policy directions guide the implementation of the CSHA:

• enhanced sustainability and integration - New approaches and mechanisms will be put in place to consolidate and coordinate sustained national action in the long term.
• increased focus on those most at risk - Innovative strategies will be devised to target high-risk behaviours in hard-to-reach populations that are often socially and economically marginalized.
• increased public accountability - Increased evidence-based decision making and ongoing performance review and monitoring will ensure that the CSHA continues to be relevant and responsive to the changing realities of HIV/AIDS.

People living with HIV/AIDS and those at risk of HIV infection are the focus and centre of CSHA efforts. Funding allocations for the CSHA are shown in Table 1.

Table 1:
CSHA Annual Funding Allocations
(millions of dollars)

Prevention	$	3.90
Community Development and Support to National NGOs	$	10.00
Care, Treatment and Support	$	4.75
Legal, Ethical and Human Rights	$	0.70
Aboriginal Communities	$	2.60
Correctional Service Canada	$	0.60
Research	$	13.15
Surveillance	$	4.30
International Collaboration	$	0.30
Consultation, Evaluation, Monitoring and Reporting	$	1.90
Total	$	42.20

Canada's Approach

The CSHA is a Canadian approach that enables the engagement of non-governmental and voluntary organizations, people living with HIV/AIDS, communities, the private sector and all levels of government.

The newly established Public Health Agency of Canada, the lead federal agency for issues related to HIV/AIDS, administers the CSHA through CIDPC and its regional offices. Several responsibility centres within Health Canada also contribute to this work, including the Departmental Program Evaluation Division (DPED), the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) and the International Affairs Directorate (IAD). Correctional Service Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) also receive funding through the CSHA.

Major national non-governmental stakeholders are also partners in the implementation of the CSHA. They include:

• the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN)
• the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS)
• the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE)
• the Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR)
• the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR)
• the Canadian HIV/AIDS Information Centre, Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA)
• the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
• the Canadian HIV Trials Network (CTN)
• the Canadian Treatment Action Council (CTAC)
• the Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation (CWGHR)
• the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development (ICAD)
• the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)

Several federal departments and agencies provide additional funding from their departmental budgets to address HIV/AIDS. Correctional Service Canada invests $13 million annually in infectious disease management in the correctional environment, including HIV/AIDS care, treatment and support. Similarly, Health Canada's FNIHB invests $2.5 million annually to provide HIV/AIDS education, prevention and related health care services to Inuit and on-reserve First Nations peoples. CIHR is also committed to contributing at least $3.5 million per annum to HIV/AIDS research, and in 2003-2004 invested a total of $8 million in HIV/AIDS research and an additional $7.3 million in research related to HIV/AIDS.

CIDA's HIV/AIDS Action Plan, which articulates CIDA's approach to helping control and prevent the spread of the disease in developing countries and countries in transition, was launched in June 2000 as part of the global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The plan includes a commitment to a five-year investment totalling $270 million, beginning with $22 million in 2000-2001 and increasing to $80 million in 2004-2005. CIDA is also contributing or has contributed:

• $100 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) in support of the 3 by 5 Initiative announced in May 2004
• $220 million over five years to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM)
• up to $100 million to support African-led initiatives to broaden treatment access
• through the G8 Africa Action Plan, $50 million over three years to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) for vaccine research and $12 million to build capacity to respond to HIV in sub-Saharan Africa
• an additional one-time contribution of $5 million to UNAIDS, essentially doubling Canada's contribution to UNAIDS to $10.4 million in fiscal year 2003-2004 (Of this additional funding, $1 million was earmarked to support the new Global Coalition on Women and HIV/AIDS.)
• $250,000 to support the attendance of participants from developing countries at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand

Provincial and territorial governments are key partners in the CSHA. Their collaboration and contributions, through their respective action plans and strategies, play an important role in achieving the goals of the CSHA. As well, community-based organizations engaged on the front lines of the response are critical to Canada's efforts to prevent the further spread of HIV while providing care, treatment and support to people living with HIV/AIDS.

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