Cancel the Cuts in Vancouver Coastal Health

Miriam mentioned the Cancel the Cuts campaign in her blog last week about North American activism, but I am bringing it up again to bring the message home to Vancouver. I’m even posting a day ahead of schedule so you might change your schedule for tomorrow and make the rally at the north plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Why all the fuss? Well, as the campaign implies, it’s about cuts to community organizations serving people with HIV in the Lower Mainland, specifically within the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCH). Community organizations have been presented with the news that they have to make some staggering cuts to their budgets, immediately and in the next fiscal year. It’s not only going to have an impact on people living with HIV, but also on many other communities.

Community based health organizations focus on helping people maximize health outcomes. This includes direct health care services delivery as well as the support structures that can make the difference between people being as healthy as possible (minimizing the chances of HIV transmission) and people who are isolated from care. Support structures include individualized case management, outreach, practical info on how to avoid spreading HIV/ STIs, harm reduction strategies and more. Supporting people to be successful with HIV treatment regimes, which can reduce the HIV viral load in someone’s blood to very low levels, can reduce transmission potential dramatically, impacting people and demands on the health care system.

We’re on board in supporting our colleagues in the Cancel the Cuts campaign. Although Positive Women’s Network serves women across the whole province, many of our members also use services operated with funding from VCH. YouthCo, AIDS Vancouver, Vancouver Native Health, and Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation have all received notification that their funding levels are going to change. The domino effect of this could mean more new infections, which end up costing more than the cuts to funding. 

You can help protest these cuts by being at the Cancel the Cuts rally tomorrow, December 18, at noon. Wear red to show your solidarity and gather at the North Plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery (Georgia Street side). The rally is half an hour- less than lunch! For more information visit the Cancel the Cuts website.

Cancel The Cuts Rally: Friday December 18.  12 noon- 12:30 at the North Plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

- Janet

 This blog represents the ideas of individual writers, and does not necessarily reflect any formal stance taken by Positive Women’s Network.

This was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under News . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.

• Name

  Email

  Website

  Cancel reply