{"id":137742,"date":"2025-09-12T04:23:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T04:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137742\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T04:23:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T04:23:06","slug":"aids-committee-of-toronto-to-close-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137742\/","title":{"rendered":"AIDS Committee of Toronto to close in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

An AIDS ribbon hangs from a door in the offices of the AIDS Committee of Toronto.Fred Lum\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s largest and oldest HIV service organization, AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT)<\/a>, will close in March after 42 years supporting those living with HIV. <\/p>\n

Founded in 1983, the groundbreaking organization offered front-line services, peer and mental health support, and helmed advocacy and fundraising efforts to end HIV stigma and advance health care policy in Canada. <\/p>\n

The decision to close ACT\u2019s doors follows a drastic decline in service requests, owing to significant scientific breakthroughs that have given those with HIV the opportunity to live long and healthy lives. They include major advances in HIV testing and prevention medication, as well as treatments that suppress people\u2019s viral loads to the point that they no longer transmit HIV. <\/p>\n

As the science around HIV has advanced, people have begun approaching the organization for new kinds of help. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 42 years, it\u2019s time for ACT to hand that baton on to other organizations doing great work,\u201d said ACT executive director Ryan Lisk. <\/p>\n

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When the organization was founded by volunteers in the early 1980s, HIV-AIDS led almost inevitably to long-term illness and death. Fear and stigma were running high. In those early years of the epidemic, the organization focused on crisis support, largely from peers. <\/p>\n

In the intervening years, ACT offered formal mental health counselling and led campaigns related to sexual health and HIV prevention. As treatment improved, people living with HIV came to the organization with concerns beyond urgent medical care. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were needing to talk about employment, housing, mental health and social support,\u201d Mr. Lisk said. <\/p>\n

And so ACT evolved. \u201cWe created an employment service for people living with HIV that, all of a sudden, with new and advancing medications, were coming off of disability and returning to the work force.\u201d<\/p>\n

More recently, the focus has shifted to aging with HIV, which didn\u2019t feel like a possibility for many of those diagnosed with HIV in the 80s, Mr. Lisk said. A newer priority is programming for people who outlived their friends and are socially isolated. <\/p>\n

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In the next six months, ACT staff will help their current users land support with other organizations in the city. These will include Women\u2019s Health in Women\u2019s Hands, a community health centre for racialized women, and HQ Toronto, which offers testing, access to HIV treatment and prevention options, as well as mental health and substance abuse support. Those who\u2019ve lived with HIV for decades also have increased risk for heart disease and stroke and need specialized support, according to Kevin Woodward, executive and medical director of HQ Toronto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA geriatrician may not have a lot of expertise or experience in individuals who are aging and living with HIV. This is the first group of people who are coming through, who are getting to that age where they\u2019ve had HIV for 30 or 40 years and are doing well from that standpoint, but dealing with all the other aging issues,\u201d said Dr. Woodward, an associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at McMaster University.<\/p>\n

The closing of ACT comes as new infections are rising in Canada<\/a>. Some 2,434 new cases of HIV were diagnosed in 2023, an increase of 35 per cent from the year prior, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. <\/p>\n

Mr. Lisk said organizations offering testing for HIV and other STIs need attention and funding, since many people still don\u2019t feel comfortable asking their family doctor, let alone their parents. For the most vulnerable patients without insurance, some HIV medications remain inaccessible or unaffordable. <\/p>\n

\u201cHIV is still here,\u201d Mr. Lisk said. \u201cHIV stigma continues. HIV non-disclosure is still a legal issue<\/a>. For young people who weren\u2019t here in the 80s and early 90s, they need to know this is still a risk, that conversations about sexual health are important.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: An AIDS ribbon hangs from a door in the offices of the AIDS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,84,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-137742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-health","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}