1 The UNAIDS 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic compares new estimates for 2003 with revised estimates for 2001 based on improved methodologies. This allows for a better understanding of how the epidemic is spreading. Although the new global estimates are slightly lower than previously published estimates, the actual number of people living with HIV has not decreased; rather, the epidemic continues to grow based on revised 2001 estimates.
2 UNAIDS web site, www.unaids.org/wac2004/index_en.htm .
3 Unless otherwise noted, all domestic epidemiological and surveillance data presented in this report have been provided by CIDPC.
4 HIV/AIDS - An Attitudinal Survey, conducted by Ekos Research Associates in March 2003.
5 Surveillance data provide a snapshot of persons who have been diagnosed with HIV and AIDS in Canada. Surveillance data understate the magnitude of the HIV epidemic, since they tell us only about persons who have been tested and diagnosed. An estimated 17 000 individuals are HIV-infected but remain untested and undiagnosed.
6 Final Report: Estimating the Number of Persons Co-infected with Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Canada, Robert S. Remis MD, MPH, FRCPC, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, March 31, 2001.
7 Men who have sex with men (MSM) accounted for more than 44 per cent of new HIV infections between 2000 and 2003, an increase of 7 per cent over the late 1990s, Health Canada, HIV and AIDS in Canada Surveillance Report to December 31, 2003.