Manitoba’s rate of HIV diagnoses climbing, still second highest in Canada
MANITOBA continues to have the second-highest rate of HIV diagnoses in Canada, new data from the provincial and federal government shows.
Manitoba’s 2023 HIV surveillance report shows 280 new cases of HIV were reported in the last year, up from 199 cases in 2022.
In its latest surveillance report, the Public Health Agency of Canada says Manitoba has one of the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses per capita, at 19.3 people per 100,000, second only to Saskatchewan’s rate of 19.4 people per 100,000.
The national average is 6.1 people per 100,000.
Manitoba’s rate has nearly doubled from 2022, when it was 10.5 people per 100,000.
In a statement to the Free Press, Health minister Uzoma Asagwara blamed the former Progressive Conservative government for the spiking numbers.
“This report highlights the PC’s record on harm reduction and on health care. Their misinformed and heartless approach left vulnerable Manitobans and their families with little to no support,” Asagwara said in an emailed statement.
The provincial report shows the largest driver of HIV transmission was people who inject drugs. Since 2019, transmission through drug injection is more commonly reported as the primary mode of transmission than male-to-male sexual contact, the report says.
When compared to national data, the largest proportion of HIV diagnoses in 2023 was attributed to heterosexual contact among women and male-to-male sexual contact.
The report called HIV a “significant public health issue” in the province, noting the rate of new diagnoses has tripled over a five-year period.
In 2019, just 90 newly diagnosed cases of HIV were reported.
In its 2024 update, the Manitoba HIV Program, which provides resources and treatment to people diagnosed with HIV, reported there was a 130 per cent increase in the number of people newly diagnosed with HIV and referred to its program.
The update said in Manitoba, Indigenous women are disproportionately affected by HIV. Among all women referred to the Manitoba HIV Program, 85 per cent of patients self-identified as Indigenous.
Test positivity for HIV in Manitoba has also doubled over the past five years, with 0.6 per cent of tests coming back positive in 2023, compared to 0.3 per cent in 2019.
Asagwara said while they are proud of the work the NDP government has done to support people living with HIV it is going to take time to start to “reverse the damage done under the previous government.”
“It’s time that a government listens to the experiences of those struggling with addictions and listens to the experts who have been advocating in this province for years,” Asagwara said.
Last year on World AIDS Day, which falls annually on Dec. 1, Asagwara announced more than $527,000 for the Manitoba HIV Program and $271,000 for a mobile care service run by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre.
In May, the province announced it would remove barriers to access HIV/AIDS medicine, including free pre-exposure prophylaxis, a daily antiretroviral medication that reduces the risk of HIV infection; post-exposure prophylaxis, antiretroviral medicine taken after the potential exposure to HIV; and antiretroviral therapy to treat HIV.
The federal report shows HIV diagnoses increased by 35 per cent in 2023, eclipsing the near-25 per cent increase in 2022.
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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Credit: Manitoba’s rate of HIV diagnoses climbing, still second highest in Canada
