Ep. 428: HIV/AIDS is Still a Pandemic

Guest: Julio Montaner, HIV/AIDS researcher

In 1996, Julio Montaner hosted the Vancouver International AIDS Conference and, at the same time, shared the HAART antiretroviral treatment that he and a team of committed scientists were pioneering in Vancouver.

Since then, he has pioneered the concept of Treatment as Prevention (TasP). Dr Montaner was the first person to advocate for the expansion of HAART coverage to curb the impact on the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to decrease progression to AIDS and death.

Dr Montaner says, “It’s more than that – the antiretroviral treatment is also decreasing HIV transmission”. So effective have been Dr Montaners efforts that TasP has been implemented with great success in British Columbia and it is progressively been embraced in countries around the world; in 2013, it was fully incorporated into the World Health Organization’s Consolidated ARV Guidelines.

We invited Dr Julio Montaner to join us for a Conversation That Matter about HIV/AIDS, where we are in treatment, where we need to go and what roadblocks still need to be removed.