A massive survey that could shape the course of AIDS policy in Canada will soon be under way, headed up by a team of U of T researchers who hope to get a better sense of the epidemic and how it can be reversed or averted.

Updating a similar survey that is now ten years out of date, the two-year study will be the largest Canadian student on HIV/AIDS prevalence in gay and bisexual men in Ontario.

“We don’t have a clear understanding about the sexual behaviours and attitudes of gay and bisexual men (in Ontario),” said Ted Myers, head of the study and director of HIV social, behavioural and epidemiological studies unit in U of T’s Faculty of Medicine.

“We need to know what is fuelling the epidemic. We know that HIV/AIDS is on the rise, especially among young men in Ontario…but we do not understand exactly why this is occurring. While much is done in treatment research, we need information that will help control the epidemic until a cure is found.”

Myers was part of a similar national study that was done in 1991 and notes that much has changed since, including increased human rights, growth of the gay community, more service organizations and new treatments for men living with HIV/AIDS.

The project manager of the current investigation (who asked not to be named) said, “There is consensus that ‘that was then and this is now.’ There were notably behavioural changes in men. We know it is hard to maintain safer sex. That difference may be 10 years of having to wear rubber. In the early days, when condoms were a fairly new technology, men were having lots of unprotected sex and protected sex.”

The researching team aims to recruit 5,000 respondents to fill out a questionnaire (which is translated into seven languages) and also give optional saliva samples for HIV testing. U of T researchers, local coordinators and trained volunteers will administer the survey to 13 communities all across Ontario.

The tests are anonymous and the information kept confidential, with only general demographic data required.

Daven Seebarran, an executive at the Sexual Education Center (SEC) at U of T, said the study is very useful because it will give an insight to the subjects’ habits and activities. “Statistics that are relevant to Toronto will be important (to SEC) to see future trends and how to form and implement programs for groups being neglected.”

John Maxwell, director of community development at the AIDS Community of Toronto and investigator for the study, said the increase in HIV infections could be a result of the advances in treatment. In particular, anti-HIV drugs called protease inhibitors—similar to chemotherapy—work well with AIDS patients.

“There is a positive impact in prolonging the life of an AIDS patients, although we don’t know the long repercussions of the drug. The negative spin-off is that it makes men feel less vigilant to practice safer sex and may think that by popping a few pills, it will ward off the virus (if contracted). Unfortunately, this is not the case.”

It is hoped this study will produce effective prevention and education programs in the future.

Coordinators of the study say participants, as well as all gay and bisexual men, will become more aware of HIV prevalence in their community.

This information will also be valuable to AIDS service organizations, health policy makers and researchers in Canada and internationally who are attempting to understand the epidemic, according to Myers.