Canada: Men's Survey Seeks Reason for Increase in AIDS Cases

AIDS Niagara is one of the organizations surveying 5,000 men in 13 Ontario communities to determine why there has been an increase in the number of HIV/AIDS cases in recent years and how that trend can be reversed.

The Ontario Men's Survey is the largest Canadian study of men who have sex with men to try to understand the factors that have caused the incidence of HIV/AIDS to rise, particularly between 1998 and 1999. Since 1996, the AIDS caseload has increased 1 percent per year in the higher density populations of Toronto and Vancouver. In 1999, those populations showed a 3 percent increase.

One of the reasons for the increase may be what researchers are calling "condom fatigue," said LeeAnn Pocknell, local coordinator of the survey. Pocknell said men have been "bombarded" with messages about condom use and they may now be ignoring warnings because they are so tired of them. "So maybe there's more unprotected sex in this population," she said.

The survey will also look at other sexual and social behaviors. The survey activity began in Niagara in February and it will be completed March 31, 2002. Of the 200 men in Niagara to be questioned, 135 surveys have been completed.

Statistics compiled from September 2001 show there were just over 300 cases of men and women with HIV/AIDS in Niagara. In Ontario, 28,000 people are infected and 72 percent of those are considered to be men who have sex with men. Study results will be made public.

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