UBC plays host to AIDS/HIV conference

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The 9th Annual British Columbia HIV/AIDS Conference is scheduled for Nov. 5 through to Nov. 7 at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver.

The three-day event will be prefaced by a full day of workshops on Nov. 4 devoting energy to the topics of HIV Management for Physicians; Understanding Gay and Bisexual Male Communities and Public Health and Harm Reduction.

The conference proper will begin with a plenary session on HIV and drug use: The challenge of prevention and care and a round table discussion on the Canadian scene.

The round table discussion will include the epidemiology of HIV among drug users in Canada, trends in HIV risk among injection drug users in Toronto, issues in prevention and care from a Quebec perspective; and the outbreak of HIV in drug users in British Columbia.

On Nov. 6, the conference will turn its attention to strategies in responding to HIV/AIDS with a discussion on how well the province of B.C. is responding to the illness. Parallel plenary sessions will include integrating sexuality and spirituality or the clinical management of HIV and injection drug use.

Workshops scheduled for the day are Educators as Sexual Beings which will address the educator's role in the 1990s; Legal and Ethical Issues Raised by HIV/AIDS which addresses the issues of care and treatment, discrimination, and criminalization of HIV transmission; and the Treatment Choices in the '90s.

There are two workshops regarding Aboriginal issues. The first will look at data showing a greater rate of HIV in the Native community than previously predicted.

This workshop offers presentations by workers who travel the province delivering HIV/AIDS prevention messages to Aboriginal populations and by caregivers who work in urban settings with Aboriginal people with HIV/AIDS.

There are also two Cultural Competence workshops, which will explore the often diverse cultures between client and service provider and the potential for misunderstanding and conflict between different colleagues.

These are only a small sampling of a very busy agenda for the conference. For more information contact (604)822-2626.