Resources
Below is an extensive list of helpful resources pertaining to HIV and AIDS. While we believe this list is a great place to start your learning on HIV and AIDS, please do not hesitate to contact us with any further questions. The best way to lessen the impact of HIV and AIDS related stigma is to educate yourself, your friends, and your family. Share what you learn here with those near to you and help us get to zero!
The Edmonton Men’s Health Collective at yegmenshealth.ca is a local, grassroots health movement run for and by gay, bisexual, queer and trans men (GTBTQ)
www.GayMensHealth.org is focused on providing quality support, education and advocacy for the overall health of gay men.
The Body has a HIV and AIDS Resource Centre for Gay Men site so go check it out! www.thebody.com/content/art57068.html
Homepage of HIM www.checkhimout.ca , the Health Initiative for Men, a Vancouver based organization dedicated to strengthening the health and well being of all gay men.
The Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network homepage. www.caan.ca/
Operating out of Red Deer for over 15 years, Shining Mountains provides a wide range of community services for people living with, affected by or at risk of HIV www.shiningmountainslcs.com
Kimamow Atoskanow Foundation (KAF) works together to address HIV and AIDS, addictions and related issues www.treeofcreation.ca
The Ontario Aboriginal HIV and AIDS Strategy implemented in 1995 to respond to the changing epidemic within the Aboriginal population www.oahas.org
Chee Mamuk Aboriginal Program, affiliated with BC Centre for Disease Control is a provincial program with services and educational resources grounded in community, tradition and science to promote health of Aboriginal communities http://www.bccdc.ca/our-services/programs/chee-mamuk-aboriginal-health
Young people and AIDS from The Body. Long list of articles on HIV and youth. www.thebody.com/whatis/children.html
Sex Ed for the real world… inclusive, comprehensive and smart sexuality information and help for teens and 20 somethings www.scarleteen.com
A site for people aged 15 to 29 with information on HIV and Hepatitis C. http://www.youthco.org/
A safer sex guide for young gay and bisexual men. www.actoronto.org/website/home.nsf/pages/young+proud
Information on all sorts of women’s issues, especially for women living in developing countries. www.genderhealth.org
Family Health International. Information on contraceptives research and HIV/AIDS prevention projects around the world. www.fhi.org
Information on contraception, HIV, pregnancy, etc. www.reproline.jhu.edu
A sex ed resource for parents. www.advocatesforyouth.org/parents/
Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Gender identity is your own, internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or as someone outside of that gender binary). People under the transgender umbrella may describe themselves using one (or more) of a wide variety of terms, including (but not limited to) transgender, transsexual, and genderqueer. Always use the descriptive term preferred by the individual.(GLAAD website http://www.glaad.org)
- Questions and Answers: Gender Identity in Schools developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada to assist people working in health promotion and sexual health education. It is intended to address the most commonly asked questions regarding gender identity.
The Trans Toolkit: The Canadian AIDS Society and the Trans* Community Advisory Committee are happy to provide you with a copy of The Trans* Toolkit: Practical Resources for Community-Based Organizations. It is our hope that this toolkit will prove useful to organizations striving to become more inclusive of their trans* clients, staff and volunteers.
- Trans Needs Assessment Report: During 2013-14, Canadian AIDS Society has undertaken a year-long project to find out what types of services and resources trans people needed from AIDS service organizations (ASOs).Over the course of the year, CAS conducted key informant interviews with ASOs, health services organizations, as well as surveyed over 460 trans respondents to identify the challenges in the service delivery.
- Brazen: Trans Women’s Safer Sex Guide distributed by CATIE, this resource This guide is for trans women (people who identify on some level as any of the following: woman/womyn/girl/female/feminine/femme but were assigned male at birth) and their sex partners. This resource covers topics such as body parts and identities, disclosure, HIV and other STIs, safer sex, surgeries, talking to your doctor, harm re
duction and sex work.
- Primed: The Back Pocket Guide for Transmen and the Men who Dig Them is the first sexual health resource written by and for gay, bi and queer trans men. Based on an Ontario-wide assessment of the sexual health needs of gay, bi and queer trans men, Primed prioritizes the diverse bodies, desires, and sexualities of gay, bi, and queer transmen. This resource will spark discussion about the many ways that transmen have sex and how we interact with our gay/queer men’s communities. Topics covered in the guide include: disclosure, cruising, safer sex and harm reduction, STIs and hepatitis A, B and C, and transmen and pregnancy.
- DECSA’s Transitions program: Trans individuals are at particular risk for sexual exploitation, including prostitution or human trafficking. Our Transitions program helps trans individuals (in addition to men and women) exit the sex trade, including stabilization and outreach services. Sexual exploitation is not your fault. Contact us for help.
The Treatment Map by CTAC- This is a comprehensive online tool to empower people living with HIV and HCV to interactively access information on medication treatment options currently available in Canada, as well as medications and new discoveries http://www.ctac.ca/resources/treatment-access-map
Hepatitis Support Program- Kaye Edmonton Clinic
AIDS Education and Research Trust. www.avert.org
San Francisco AIDS Foundation. BETA (Bulleting of Experimental Treatments for AIDS). www.sfaf.org/beta
Information and lessons on treating HIV and AIDS. www.aidsmeds.com
A comprehensive database of information and news alerts about potentially dangerous drugs. www.drugalert.org
CATIE is a source of great information on HIV and Hep C, check out the basics www.catie.ca/en/basics/hepatitis-c
Canadian Liver Foundation: Northern Alberta Chapter (Edmonton) has a peer support group for people living with liver disease which meets monthly. For more information and to contact go to http://www.liver.ca/clf-chapters/locations/alberta/edmonton-and-northern-alberta/
A unique way to provide Hepatitis C information. Can also be obtained text only. www.subtle.net/carrier/
Hepatitis Foundation International. http://www.hepfi.org
The Canadian Liver Foundation website. www.liver.ca
Alberta Health Services Kaye Edmonton Clinic offers care for people with Hepatitis C in education, treatment, assessments including blood tests and ultrasounds http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/services.asp?pid=saf&rid=1090204
A primer for principals, educators and school personnel on Sexual Orientation and Youth. www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/facts.pdf
A site dedicated to comprehensive school health. www.safehealthyschools.org
The homepage for the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists. www.aasect.org/
Harm Reduction Definition (Streetworks-October 15,2015)
Harm Reduction is a comprehensive, just and science-based approach to substance use. It represents policies, strategies and services which aim to assist people who use legal and illegal psychoactive drugs to live safer and healthier lives. All substances have both positive and negative effects and substance use may affect one’s health and legal vulnerability. Harm Reduction recognizes that people use drugs for many reasons. Reduction of substance use and/or abstinence is not required in order to receive respect, compassion or services. It is clear that most people who use substances do not experience problems, but in some circumstances, substance use can become dependent and/or chaotic. Harm Reduction enhances the ability of people who use substances to have increased control over their lives and their health, and allows them to take protective and proactive measures for themselves, their families and their communities.
Harm Reduction:
- Is based on evidence, both from science and lived experience.
- Is rooted in compassion and justice.
- Challenges stigma and discrimination.
- Addresses policies and laws that create risk environments and harm to individuals, communities, and particularly marginalized groups. Harm Reduction approaches reject the notion that the use of criminal law should be the sole response to illicit substance use.
- Recognizes that the regulation of substances will decrease costs to health, justice and social systems, decrease violence, increase access to prevention, care, treatment and support services, decrease barriers, decrease racial profiling, and respect the human rights of people who use substances.
- Seeks creative solutions that are pragmatic, cost effective, and sensitive to the available resources, social context, and personal history of individuals. It challenges people to be courageous and think outside of the box.
- Promotes thoughtful, balanced and well researched approaches to the actual harms of substances and encourages truthful drug education.
- Advocates for enhanced and effective treatment options.
- Includes non-judgmental, client centred, strength-based services that provide the skills, knowledge, resources and support for people to live safer and healthier lives.
- Does not encourage drug use, enable harmful drug use, or “give up” on people. Harm Reduction approaches do quite the opposite – increasing access to services and creating a milieu of support for positive change.
Streetworks, Oct. 15, 2015
The Canadian Harm Reduction Network. www.canadianharmreduction.com
Harm reduction Coalition. Committed to reducing drug-related harm among individuals and communities by initiation and promoting local, regional, and national harm reduction education, interventions and community organizing. www.harmreduction.org
Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. A national network advancing changes in drug policy. www.drugpolicy.ca/
International Harm Reduction Association. An international professional association for individuals and organizations concerned with the development of drug policies to reduce the harmful consequences of drug use and current drug policies. www.ihra.net
Information on disposing of used needles safely, provided by the City of Edmonton.
What determines Health? Public Health Agency of Canada. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ph-sp/determinants/#determinants
American Journal of Health Promotion, containing information on health promotion resources. http://www.healthpromotionjournal.com/
Homepage of the Sexual Health Network. http://www.sexualhealth.com/
The Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada website. www.ppfc.ca
A Great fun and interactive site to help understand STI’s and also a few useful tips about how to talk about sex! http://sexgerms.com/
Compass Centre for Sexual Wellness is a charitable organization that provides sexual health education and counselling services here in Edmonton Check their site out. www.compasscentre.ca
The Youth Substance Abuse Service homepage. www.ysas.org.au/
A youth-oriented site of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. www.unodc.org/youthnet/youthnet_youth_drugs.html
The Canadian Center on Substance Abuse. http://www.ccsa.ca
Information on drug, alcohol and nicotine (ab)use. www.noah-health.org/en/mental/disorders/substance/
Covers new developments in AIDS treatment research. www.sfaf.org/beta
POZ Magazine. www.thebody.com/poz/pozix.html
Positively Jeffery. http://positivelyjeffrey.com/
Pamphlets on HIV, sexuality and related subjects.www.gmhc.org
Canada’s source for HIV and hepatitis C information. www.catie.ca
The Complete HIV/AIDS Resource. www.thebody.com
HIV/AIDS Resource Centre. Books, articles and links. www.healingwell.com/AIDS
Alberta Community Council on HIV. www.acch.ca
Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development. www.icad-cisd.com
The Centre for AIDS Prevention Studies. www.caps.ucsf.edu
The Canadian AIDS Society homepage. www.cdnaids.ca
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network homepage. www.aidslaw.ca
Movie on the life cycle of HIV as well as other information on HIV. www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aids/action.html
Monthly newsletter for people living with HIV giving up-to-date medical information and health management strategies. www.relaymagazine.com
CATIE’s Practical Guide to Complementary Therapies for People Living with HIV. http://www.catie.ca/pdf/PG_CAM/CAM_rvsd_05_ENG_web.pdf
Yoga for persons living with HIV. Articles on yoga for HIV/AIDS, videos. www.yogagroup.org
Institute for Traditional Medicine. www.itmonline.org
Health Sciences library. Arranged for easy access by modality. Canadian sites are marked with a Canadian flag. A very extensive list of sites. http://hsl.mcmaster.ca/
World Health Organization information on HIV and AIDS
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations. www.icaso.org
Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. www.unaids.org
United Nations Development Program. Information on HIV/AIDS can be found by clicking on ‘Focus Areas.’ www.undp.org
For information about the worldwide HIV and AIDS epidemic check out AVERT.org