Category: Advocacy, Policy, Public Health

Part 1: The Who, What and How of Drug Use that Impact Overdose Outcomes Over the past several months, several of PAN’s staff have been sitting down to consult with Candice Norris about her observations and experiences with the opioid overdose public health emergency. Candice is an Aboriginal woman from the Cree/Dene nation who has… Read more »

Opioid Crisis Addiction Education 2017

  As we learned in our Rapid Assessment of community –based programs’ needs for capacity building in the face of the overdose crisis, organizational staff and volunteers doing overdose related care and support don’t necessarily have a background in substance use education. This motivated us to develop our Drug Use and Overdose Response Resource page,… Read more »

Overdose Awareness Day – August 31

  August 31st is Overdose Awareness Day, a time to recognize the devastation wrought by the overdose crisis as well as to bring attention to the health and social issues that surround drug use. In 2017 overdose deaths will undoubtedly surpass the number of those in 2016 (922). As of June 30, the number of… Read more »

Substance Use News, Summer 2017

Launching Legal Action Against Big Pharma In the US, Louisville has joined other jurisdictions that are suing drug manufacturers over their roles and responsibilities in opioid crisis. “It’s time for the companies that started this epidemic and turned a blind eye to its consequences to take responsibility for the devastation they have caused,” Louisville Mayor… Read more »

Y-track Phase 6 is now live on Canada.ca Y-Track (formerly E-SYS, Enhanced Surveillance of Canadian Street Youth) is an enhanced surveillance system that monitors rates of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs) as well as the associated risk behaviours in the Canadian street youth population. Information is collected through cross-sectional surveys conducted periodically at sentinel… Read more »

The CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity would like to inform its community of the following funding announcement: Catalyst Grant: HPV Screening & Vaccination in Underserved Populations  Human Papillomavirus Screening and Vaccination Implementation in Underserved Populations The Institute of Cancer Research in partnership with the Institute of Infection and Immunity , in consultation with the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’… Read more »

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

  Today is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and the 10th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration addresses many issues to try to rebalance the incredible imbalance of rights and power between Indigenous people and descendants of colonists who traveled and “found” traditional Indigenous… Read more »

Submitted by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network The Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCRHC) is proposing to develop a Community Consensus Statement on actions federal, provincial and territorial governments should take to address the overly broad use of the criminal law in cases of alleged HIV non-disclosure. There are several issues to be addressed… Read more »

The Pacific AIDS Network is pleased to share findings from the BC component of a CIHR-funded community-based research study that investigated the impact of food insecurity on health outcomes of people living with HIV in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. As part of the knowledge-to-action activities for this project, a briefing note and fact sheet were… Read more »

World Hepatitis Day in Canada

Today is World Hepatitis Day, a day to make more people aware of hepatitis and options for care and treatment.  Here are a few pieces on what’s making the news across the country: East Coast: Issuing a call to action on World Hepatitis Day “Hepatitis C rates in Cape Breton are some of the highest… Read more »