2020 has been a particularly challenging year for Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario as it has for all of Ontario. With strict social-distancing requirements, many of us cannot hold our usual World AIDS Day  events, which is why this year, Elevate NWO and the OAHAS Thunder Bay site have decided to bring their event into a virtual space. The one silver lining of doing it this way is that geography is not a barrier. Many more people can participate online and they extend an invitation to everyone across Ontario to join the virtual memorial event. This event will promote HIV/AIDS awareness and remind

Asian Community AIDS Services (ACAS) is pleased to invite all its stakeholders to this year’s Virtual World AIDS Day (WAD) event on December 3rd, 2020. The celebration includes a series of podcasts entitled “Love Fierce Positive Asians,” a continuation of the successful first series from WAD 2019. The series will discuss the intersectional experiences of Asian PHAs such as gender identities, navigating life with a caregiver, fatherhood, and being a refugee. ACAS will also be launching their first online community forum ACAS SEED25+,  focusing on HIV+ pioneers and AIDS activists who planted seeds at ACAS and have helped shape their growth for more than 25 years!  ACAS is also planning a

Join the AIDS Committee of Ottawa (ACO) for AIDS Awareness Week between November 24th and December 1st. ACO will be raising awareness about the most relevant topics in the HIV landscape right now, including HIV Self-Testing, Anti-Black Racism, HIV, and COVID-19. ACO will be releasing a look-back slide show of pictures from the last 5 years from City Hall to Parliament Hill and will release a World AIDS Day video! Stay tuned for these exciting events on their social media platforms. To learn more check for updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Join CATIE, the Ontario Harm Reduction Network, and the Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program for an upcoming workshop called: Ontario Overdose Crisis and the Impact of COVID-19.  Date: Wednesday December 2, 2020Time: 11:00 amWhat to expect Ontario, like other provinces in Canada, continues to face an escalating overdose crisis compounded by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which has increased the risk of fatal overdoses. The pandemic has also influenced the types and the purity of drugs people are consuming, and limited access to support services. This webinar will explore what various data sources in public health, drug surveillance and harm reduction can tell

On November 2, 2020, Health Canada granted a medical device license to a one-minute, finger-prick HIV blood test. Known more commonly as the HIV self-test, this device is manufactured by bioLytical Laboratories based in BC.  The approval follows research and development associated with the Solutions Network: REACHing the Undiagnosed Testing for linkages to care for HIV and Hepatitis C project. The study was submitted by principal investigator Sean Rourke to regulators for approval earlier this year. The project is a collaboration of: CATIE CAFAR CAHR CBRC CSIH National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases  REACH 3.0 In our last newsletter, the OAN shared

The Gilbert Center is offering a free 6-week online program entitled Positive Self Management Program. This is for service users living with HIV from the Gilbert Centre.Program focus includes: Learning more about living with HIV Support networking Go here to view the Positive Self Management Program poster. To learn more about the program please reach out to Kellie Leeder, Women’s Health Coordinator at kelliel@gilbertcentre.ca or 705-722-6778, ext. 802

The AIDS Committee of Ottawa (ACO) is pleased to announce the launch of a Virtual Buddy Program in November 2020! The main objective of the Buddy Program is to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS by providing emotional support and company. Upon building capacity, the next steps will be focused on incorporating a peer model.   The Buddy Program functions with a bank of dedicated, qualified volunteers who are willing to support members on a flexible schedule by: Ensuring the program operates from a needs-based approach. Matching participants with trained volunteers for one-to-one calling. Who is a Buddy? A trained volunteer

MOYO Health and Community Services is pleased to launch the Peel Integrated Drug Strategy survey again, the survey is now available online! Hence, The Peel Integrated Drug Strategy is inviting you to participate in a survey to help inform the development of a drug strategy in Peel. This is a community-based project conducted by the Peel Integrated Drug Strategy. Combined survey responses will help build a community profile of substance use in Peel, identify needs, gaps, and inform drug strategy recommendations.  What you need to know to participate: The survey is for people who use drugs and live/work/play in the Region of Peel. The

Hello Toronto! Welcome to PrEP Squad TO, a new online, social media, and print resource developed by the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP) with funding support from the Engage Intervention Fund. The resource aims to increase pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness, uptake, and access in Toronto’s Black gay/ bisexual male or transpersons who have sex with men (gbMSM) community. It is an adaptation of the PrEP Squad Washington DC campaign. PrEP Squad TO will provide fun and sexy key messaging about PrEP, mobilize access through community partnerships with local ASOs, healthcare providers, among others. The resource features PrEP users, popular opinion leaders, and social

This fall, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) will launch concurrent open and competitive solicitations for time-limited project funding under the HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund (CAF) and the Harm Reduction Fund (HRF). To support the review of the funding applications, PHAC is looking for people living with HIV, people with lived or living experience of hepatitis C, individuals from key populations, individuals who work in community-based organizations, and researchers with a range of expertise in STBBI and harm reduction to ensure the committees are diverse, inclusive and can help assess the extent to which funding applications support