Their infections were preventable. And many more will become infected in the years to come unless immediate action is taken. The inaction is striking, particularly if one considers that those responsible for it should know better and should have learned their lessons from the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada. We show, once again, that the legal status of drugs in Canada contributes to the difficulties encountered in addressing HIV among injection drug users. However, we also show that much can be done now, without waiting for the much-needed legal changes, within the current legal framework.
Enough inaction is enough.
Other articles in this issue of the Newsletter deal with topics as varied as AIDS vaccines, post-exposure prophylaxis, and discrimination in Canada's South Asian communities. Common to all articles is that they show that interventions that protect the rights of those living with, or affected by, HIV and AIDS are also those that will facilitate, rather than hinder, HIV prevention efforts and efforts to provide care, treatment, and support to those infected. For example, the fact sheet on vaccines that we reproduce demonstrates that there is no conflict between respect for human rights and the speedy development of a vaccine. The link between health and human rights, so often the subject of articles in the Newsletter , is unfortunately still little understood. It will be explored further in the next issue of the Newsletter .