OUT and abOUT: AIDS Awareness Week

Source: The Sound: OUT and abOUT

By Hailea Squires, Positive Living Niagara

Every year, from Nov. 24 until World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, we commemorate AIDS Awareness Week. This is a time when Positive Living Niagara reaches out to the community to remind people that HIV still impacts people in Canada.

As of 2016, there are an estimated 63,110 people living with HIV in Canada. Although we have the knowledge and tools to prevent new HIV infections, this number represents a five per cent increase over two years. While local numbers are hard to come by, we know that there are several hundred residents living with HIV in Niagara.