Minister Accepts Report on World AIDS Day

Health Minister Jamie Muir today accepted a comprehensive report, titled A Framework for Action, on issues around HIV and AIDS in Nova Scotia. The minister has also committed to a process to address the document's 92 recommendations.

"This is an impressive report representing an enormous amount of work and consultation among many stakeholders in Nova Scotia," says Mr. Muir. "I want to thank all of the groups and individuals who contributed to this document and tell them that we are serious about a long-term strategy to deal with all of the complex issues around this disease."

The recommendations call for a strategy that addresses several major areas affecting HIV and AIDS, including prevention and education, harm reduction and testing, community development and service coordination, research and funding and population- specific action. The Department of Health will begin work on the strategy early in the new year.

"Our next step is to begin examining the recommendations and develop our own action plan for implementation," he said. "We will gather together many of the same stakeholders involved with this report to work with an inter-departmental committee to move this important document forward."

Preparation for the report started three years ago when the previous government called for a process to look at Nova Scotia's first AIDS strategy and examine how it could be improved.

"It is extremely exciting to have the final results of A Framework For Action," said Albert McNutt, the chair of the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia. "This really is great work accomplished through community effort throughout the province. It is truly the people's documentation of key concerns, especially prevention and education concerns. It is the hope of the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia and Persons Living With HIV/AIDS that action will be taken toward the renewal of a long-term and sustainable AIDS strategy."

Much of the work to prepare A Framework for Action was led by the Nova Scotia Advisory Commission on AIDS.

"We are very pleased with the depth of consultation that has taken place during the past several years and hopeful that the result will be a strong, renewed AIDS strategy," said Dr. William Hart of the Nova Scotia Advisory Commission on AIDS. "We still have a great deal of work to accomplish, but I'm happy we've taken this next step."

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is a disease caused by HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that attacks the immune system. At the end of June, there were 256 AIDS cases and 570 HIV cases reported in Nova Scotia. The actual number of AIDS and HIV cases in the province is difficult to estimate because some people are diagnosed outside of Nova Scotia, or are unaware of their infection, or choose not to be tested.