The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Ontario has risen significantly from 18,070 people living with HIV/AIDS in 2000, to 26,356 in 2006. The increase is due to decreases in mortality and continued HIV transmission in specific populations. There were 1,802 new infections in 2006.

Many people with HIV are living longer as a result of the introduction of anti-retroviral therapies in 1996. The number of HIV-related deaths has decreased by 80 per cent since 1995. Since the beginning of the epidemic, 8,421 AIDS cases have been reported in Ontario.

There are four at risk populations in Ontario: gay and bisexual men, Ontarians from African and Caribbean countries, people who use injection drugs and aboriginal populations.

There are many reasons why the HIV epidemic continues to grow, including social stigma and social determinants of health.”

In 2006 :

• There were an estimated 15,656 gay or bisexual men infected with HIV in the province. This accounted for about 60 per cent of all HIV-infected people. There were 888 new infections among gay and bisexual men, representing 49 per cent of new HIV infections.
• Ontarians from African and Caribbean communities accounted for 16 per cent of people living with HIV/AIDS (4,181) and 24 per cent (426) of new HIV infections.
• People who use injection drugs, male and female, accounted for seven per cent of all people living with HIV/AIDS in the province (1,935) and five per cent (82) of new HIV infections.
• Heterosexual men and women who had not injected drugs, had not come from an African or Caribbean country or were not gay or bisexual men, accounted for 14 per cent of people living with HIV/AIDS in the province (3,715) and 20 per cent (355) of new infections.
• Ontario does not specifically analyse HIV in aboriginal populations as a separate exposure category. However, Health Canada AIDS data for 2003 indicates that 13 per cent of AIDS cases were in aboriginal populations, despite the fact that Aboriginal Peoples represent only 3.3 per cent of the Canadian population.
• This table provides a breakdown of the estimated number of annual new infections (HIV incidence) and the estimated number of people living with HIV in Ontario (HIV prevalence) in 2006.

Legend :
MSM : Men who have sex with men
IDU : Injection drug user
MSM-IDU : Men who have sex with men and are injection drug users
Endemic : People from Africa and the Caribbean, where rates of HIV in the general population are high
Heterosexual : People who have sex exclusively with those of the opposite sex.

The Ontario government monitors the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the assistance of Dr. Robert Remis, an epidemiologist who works out of the Ontario HIV Epidemiologic Monitoring Unit at the University of Toronto.

(The above estimates are based on epemiologic modeling by the Unit).

See also :

• Guide to HIV/AIDS epidemiologic terms and references