Vancouver Island’s regional AIDS organization continues its work amid change and challenge
On September 17, 1985, five men sat around a kitchen table and decided it was time to meet the challenge posed by the AIDS epidemic on Vancouver Island. That evening saw the birth of AIDS Vancouver Island (AVI), with the founders forming the first board of directors. Now, 25 years later, AVI serves the communities of Greater Victoria, Nanaimo, the Comox Valley, and Campbell River, and also offers services in the Port Hardy area.
While progress against HIV infection continues to be made—for example, between 1996 and 2009, new HIV diagnoses among B.C.’s injection drug users decreased by almost 50 percent—stigma and discrimination continue. In some small towns, people living with HIV/AIDS avoid using local medical clinics or pharmacies for fear of being ostracized.
On December 1, which is World AIDS Day, AIDS Vancouver Island unveils the fundraising and awareness-raising campaign, Artists for AIDS.
We speak with Andrea Langlois of AIDS Vancouver Island, and with Glenn Maguire, who has lived with HIV for fifteen years.
