PrEP in the Context of Sex Work: Possibilities and limitations
Report on the 25th Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research
May 12-15, 2016, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Thursday, May 12, Triple-X Workers' Solidarity Association of B.C. and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto hosted a closed, invite-only ancillary event (funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research) to plan and organize our national consultation on PrEP in the context of sex work to be held in Toronto in October (funded by Elton John AIDS Foundation). In collaboration with Sunshine House, Winnipeg, we brought together people with experience in sex work from across Canada to learn about PrEP and to discuss the capacity and research needs of sex workers in Canada with regards to PrEP.
- Synopsis Summary: PrEP in the Context of Sex Work Winnipeg Planning Meeting. May 12, 2016
9 key-point guidelines for PrEP programming and 17 recommendations for organizing a national consultation on PrEP, summarized from the synopsis below.
- Synopsis: PrEP in the Context of Sex Work Winnipeg Planning Meeting. May 12, 2016
Draft planning session notes were reviewed and 353 individual points were identified. The points were re-organized, condensed, synthesized and repetition removed to produce this 11-page synopsis.
Conference Reference Materials
- Report on the 25th Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research. By Andrew Sorfleet, June 29, 2016
- CAHR2016 Program at a Glance
- CAHR2016 Abstracts
- CAHR2016 Program
- CAHR2016 YouTube Channel Playlist : Video of plenaries and symposiums
- Canadian HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis and Non-Occupational Post Exposure Prophylaxis DRAFT Guidelines: Executive Summary. May 12, 2016 Preliminary Version
- Truvada for HIV PrEP: The pathway to market & public cost coverage in Ontario, as an example. Prepared as background for PrEP in the Context of Sex Work: Possibilities and limitations, Glenn Betteridge, Policy researcher Terry Santoni, Program assistant, May 2016
- Summary: Truvada for HIV PrEP: The pathway to market & public cost coverage in Ontario, as an example. Prepared as background for PrEP in the Context of Sex Work: Possibilities and limitations, Glenn Betteridge, Policy researcher Terry Santoni, Program assistant, May 2016
- Protecting Lives Preventing HIV: A Research Think Tank on the use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis in Canada, Meeting and report recommendations, March 16, 2016. Co-chairs: Sean B. Rourke, PhD, FCAHS and Stan Read, MD, PhD
Following our planning session at the phenomenal Sunshine House who provided us with the most yummy lunch as well as coffee and treats in the morning, planning session participants returned to the conference hall for a symposium where the new draft Canadian guidelines for PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and nPEP (nonoccupational Post-Exposure Prophylaxis) was being presented. Several comments arose around the room in particular with regard to Table 6B which listed sex workers as a "source" group for transmissible HIV.
When pressed, Mr. Pendergraft stated that Kate Shannon's research which provided evidence that HIV rates are high in survival sex workers (in the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver). The table suggested that those who were exposed to sex workers were eligible for nPEP, while there was no specific reference to providing nPEP for sex workers. As a result of the discussion, sex-work organizations were invited to provide feedback on the draft Canadian guidelines by May 31.
Planning session participants took part in a teleconference on May 26 to discuss the implications of the draft, and collected and compiled feedback in the form of letter which was submitted by the May 31 deadline. The letter was signed by seven participant organizations.
It seems our little project is getting noticed! In the June 27 issue of Maclean's Magazine, the project was mentioned in an exclusive interview with Elton John and husband David Furnish on HIV/AIDS awareness:
"Just this past year, we've funded three organizations in Canada working on projects related to HIV and refugees, efforts to address unjust use of sexual assault law to target HIV-positive people for having consensual sex, and a project engaging sex workers in the development of a program providing them with medications that prevent HIV infections."
PrEP/PEP related abstracts from the conference, as well as abstracts related to sex work are listed in the Report on the 25th Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research (with corresponding page numbers in the CAHR2016 Abstracts book).
