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Red scarves abound for Bundle Up in Red campaign

For the fourth year, Réseau ACCESS Network has distributed red scarves throughout downtown Sudbury and at major intersections across the city to bring attention to HIV Awareness Week.
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Gaston Cotnoir, Réseau ACCESS Network's manager of education and community development, said around 65,000 Canadians are infected with HIV, but added the numbers for Greater Sudbury are less clear. Photo by Jonathan Migneault.
For the fourth year, Réseau ACCESS Network has distributed red scarves throughout downtown Sudbury and at major intersections across the city to bring attention to HIV Awareness Week.

During a ceremony at Tom Davies Square on Monday afternoon, Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger declared the week of Nov. 23 to Dec. 1 HIV Awareness Week in Sudbury.

Thanks to donations from volunteers, and a lot of knitting, Réseau ACCESS Network has distributed around 1,800 red scarves throughout the city for its Bundle Up in Red campaign.

Each scarf includes a card with information about HIV/AIDS and how anyone can get tested locally. HIV/AIDS is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus, that affects a person's immune system and makes them more susceptible common infections like tuberculosis.

While there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, proper treatment and a healthy lifestyle mean the disease is no longer the death sentence it once was, and a person can live a long and relatively normal life after infection.

But without antiretroviral treatments, the life expectancy after infection is estimated to be around nine to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype.

Gaston Cotnoir, Réseau ACCESS Network's manager of education and community development, said around 65,000 Canadians are infected with HIV, but added the numbers for Greater Sudbury are less clear.

Around one third of those infected with HIV, he said, don't know they have the condition.

“The treatments are incredible these days, and the key to treatment is to get on it as soon as possible,” Cotnoir said.

Because HIV/AIDS can be controlled wit the proper medications, the disease is no longer in the public consciousness to the level it was in the 1980s and 1990s, Cotnoir said.

But he said its still important for people to be aware of the risks and to get tested.

Kevin McCormick, Réseau ACCESS Network's board chair, said the organization works with people on the street and spearheads community education initiatives to help people who are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C.

He said the Bundle Up in Red campaign is an important “lightning rod” to raise more awareness around HIV/AIDS and encourage people to get tested.

For more information about HIV, including how to get tested, contact Réseau ACCESS Network at 705-688-0500.

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Jonathan Migneault

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