Despite rare case of cured HIV patient, B.C. charities say support still vital

published on March 13, 2019 by Lien Yeung, in CBC

'We've seen a decline each and every year for funding,' says AIDS Vancouver — but patients still need help

HIV/AIDS charities in B.C. are reiterating their continued need for support after a patient who was declared "functionally cured" recently made global headlines.

In early March, a man who had HIV known as "the London patient" was found to have no trace of the virus nearly three years after receiving a bone marrow transplant from a donor with a rare, HIV-resistant gene mutation.

Soon after the news was published, the executive director of A Loving Spoonful — a charity that provides free meals to people living with HIV/AIDS in Metro Vancouver — received calls asking if her organization still needed to raise funds considering a cure had been found.

"Those questions are coming in as our fax machine is going off with referrals from people that need help," Lisa Martella recalled.

She says it was concerning, considering 80 per cent of her organization's funds come from donations and their major fundraising event is set to take place on Thursday.

News of the London patient's cure was "very promising," Martella said, "but this is not a mass cure for everybody at this point."

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Treatment as Prevention®

Julio Montaner

BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Despite rare case of cured HIV patient, B.C. charities say support still vital

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