HIV/AIDS Communiqué - Volume 10, Number 1 - 2011

Table of Contents

• AIDS 2010
• Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative Renewal
• Update from The Canadian Institutes of Health Research

AIDS 2010

The XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) was held in Vienna, Austria, from July 18 to 23, 2010, with over 19,300 participants from around the world. The conference theme, Rights Here, Right Now, was a call to action regarding human rights abuses, which continue to prevent progress on universal access to HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care, and support ( http://www.AIDS2010.org).

Key Conference Themes

• Human rights issues, including the public debate on the criminalization of people who inject drugs, discrimination against men who have sex with men, and HIV transmission and exposure;
• Harm reduction and the related Vienna Declaration, focusing on a public health response to drug policy;
• Need for investment in national research initiatives, surveillance and monitoring, and new prevention interventions;
• Universal access and the need for increased accountability of global leaders to their commitments to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
• Treatment as prevention, as well as broader public health approaches, to infectious disease control and management; and
• Prevention technology breakthroughs; microbicides and an HIV vaccine.

AIDS 2010 was a key opportunity for Government of Canada representatives to demonstrate leadership and share policy, program, science and technical expertise in response to domestic and global commitments on HIV/AIDS, including the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, the Federal Initiative to Address HIV/AIDS in Canada, the Millennium Development Goals and the UNAIDS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS.

Events and Presentations

Participants from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, the Canadian International Development Agency, and Correctional Service of Canada coordinated and supported over 30 events and presentations, including:

• 9 scientific and policy abstract presentations, highlighting research results and partnership models in the domestic response;
• 10 meetings, including the Minister of Health’s meetings with the National Partners and with the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV/AIDS, as well as our global partners, such as the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and the Pan-American Health Organization; and
• 11 satellite sessions focusing on vulnerable populations (men who have sex with men, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, African and Black diaspora) and vaccine and prevention technologies.
  

Canada Exhibit

Developed in partnership between civil society and governments and under the theme, Canada - Moving Forward, the Canada Exhibit showcased Canada-wide action on HIV/AIDS as a means to exchange knowledge, experience and ideas on domestic and global responses. Sixteen presentations on issues, such as surveillance, scientific research, vulnerable populations and human rights, were hosted at the booth. A Canadian Resource Library DVD holding over 350 Canadian resource documents used by community organizations and governments was distributed to attendees. A video relaying experiences of people living with HIV/AIDS, Canada’s efforts and investments in addressing HIV, and the importance of the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GIPA) principle was played throughout the day at the booth.

Canada Reception

The Minister of Health addressed over 200 Canadian and invited international guests at the Canada Reception, acknowledging the active engagement of and commitment by civil society, the HIV/AIDS community and all levels of government. The Minister also reaffirmed the Government of Canada’s and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s commitment of $139 million in funding to support a renewed Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative aimed at accelerating the global development of safe, effective, affordable, and globally accessible HIV vaccines.

The reception provided a unique opportunity for Canadian non-governmental organizations, front-line HIV/AIDS workers, scientists, researchers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and government officials to share knowledge and discuss opportunities for future collaboration.

Within the Global Village, Canadians also contributed experiences and approaches to HIV and AIDS and participated in cultural presentations related to HIV/AIDS in Canada.

For more information, please contact Patricia Hurd, HIV/AIDS Division, Public Health Agency of Canada, by e-mail, at Patricia.Hurd@phac-aspc.gc.ca, or Sharon Peake, Health Canada, International Affairs Directorate, by e-mail, at Sharon.Peake@hc-sc.gc.ca.

For more information on AIDS 2010, please view the following websites: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/id-mi/gocaids2010-eng.php and http://www.AIDS2010.org.

Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative Renewal

At the 2010 AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, the Government
of Canada, in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, (http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/media/nr-rp/2010/2010_0720-eng.php) announced the renewed Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative (CHVI), including the creation of the CHVI Research and Development Alliance. The Alliance is a network in Canada that will bring together leading researchers from the public and private sectors, as well as the international community, to develop innovative solutions to the challenges facing HIV vaccine development.

HIV/AIDS community groups and researchers were consulted on how best to implement the Alliance. Results from these consultations are available on the CHVI website at http://www.chvi-icvv.gc.ca/.

Update from The Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Funding Opportunities

The CIHR HIV/AIDS Research Initiative develops and supports a variety of HIV/AIDS research programs, which promote Canadian research and build research capacity to better understand HIV and to provide effective responses. The Research Initiative leads or supports the following research funding opportunities that were launched in summer 2010:

• Catalyst Grant: HIV/AIDS and co-morbidities
• Catalyst Grant: HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research
• Doctoral Research Award: Fall 2010 Priority Announcement (HIV/AIDS)
• Doctoral Research Award: HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research
• Fellowship: Fall 2010 Priority Announcement (HIV/AIDS)
• Operating Grant: Fall 2010 Priority Announcement (HIV/AIDS)
• Operating Grant: Fall 2010 HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research (HIV/AIDS)
• New Investigator: Fall 2010 Priority Announcement (HIV/AIDS)
• Team Grant: HIV/AIDS Vaccine Discovery and Social Research
• Team Grant: Violence, Gender and Health

There are many additional funding opportunities available through CIHR and its Institutes, including HIV/AIDS doctoral awards offered in partnership with the Canadian Association for HIV Research and a new opportunity for Network Catalyst grants.

For more detailed information on CIHR funding opportunities, please consult the CIHR Funding Opportunities database.

Results of Recent Community-Based Research Funding Competition

Community involvement in health research and action on HIV/AIDS has been continuous since the beginning of the disease in Canada. Communities play a central role in HIV/AIDS research by creating models to take action on other diseases and conditions. Through the CIHR HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research (CBR) Program, CIHR supports research that engages communities in all stages of research, from the definition of the research question, to capacity building and integration of community members in conducting research, to active participation in disseminating research results.

Through the most recent CBR funding competition, 14 new projects were funded across Canada (four focused solely on Aboriginal issues). The following are some of the funded projects:

• increasing HIV testing among men who have sex with men in Montreal;
• understanding cultural factors for HIV risk reduction among immigrants and refugees;
• identifying the needs and challenges of African, Caribbean and Black heterosexual men in Ontario;
• identifying HIV prevention needs of Asian Canadian men who have sex with men;
• identifying disability and services use among people living with HIV and AIDS;
• examining HIV/AIDS in Northern Canada;
• preventing sexually transmitted infections in women and families living in the North Vancouver Island area; and
• promoting the 21st Century Moccasin Telegraph^* by using cyberspace to improve Aboriginal health.

For more information on these projects and the CIHR HIV/AIDS Community-Based Research Program, please contact Suzete Dos Santos, by e-mail, at Suzete.DosSantos@cihr-irsc.gc.ca or by telephone, at 613-941-4464.

The results of CIHR competitions can be viewed on its website, at http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/38021.html.

CIHR Wants to Hear from You

Any comments, questions or feedback that you want to share about HIV/AIDS research? If so, please contact the CIHR HIV/AIDS Research Initiative, at HIVAIDS-VIHSIDA@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

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