HIV Screening for potential immigrants to Canada - Essay Example

forts in moving beyond the medical aspects of the disease trying to address the social and economic challenges and inequities that leave people vulnerable to HIV. Over the last few years, Canada has responded to the HIV/AIDS pandemic with strong strategic leadership, a generous financial commitment and, a coordinated approach to HIV programming, but are we statistically better off than previous years? And what measures did the government implement to cease its spread? After a brief discussion of the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Canada over the years, the following article will study the input of the Canadian healthcare system with regards to testing and screenings procedures, while showing the burdens of the disease on the economy and society.

The developed stage of the disease AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), will be used interchangeably with the word HIV. There has generally been a continuous increase in the patients of HIV/AIDS in Canada over the years. Since the year 1985 when the reporting commenced, the number of HIV positive test reports that have been notified to PHAC till 31 December 2010 were 72,226. “At the end of 2002, an estimated 56 000 people in Canada were living with HIV infection - 12 per cent more than at the end of 1999” (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2006).

In the year 2005, there were nearly 57,000 patients of HIV/AIDS in Canada and just over a period of four years, a 14 per cent increase in the population of patients of HIV/AIDS was noticed in Canada with the total population in the year 2009 being 65,000. “Although estimates of the number of new HIV infections are quite uncertain, it appears that the number of new infections in 2009 (estimated range between 2,300 and 4,300) was about the same as or slightly greater than the estimated range in 2005 (2,200 to 4,200)” (actoronto.org, 2010).

In the year 2009, the number of cases of HIV positive reported were 2416 and with the total number of HIV positive cases being 2358 in