A researcher has asked me to help him find historical statistics for the number of people of Haitian origin infected with HIV for the 1980 to 1990 period. I am fully aware that these numbers may not exist for that time period but would like to verify that assumption.
The HIV/AIDS Surveillance Reports from the Public Health Agency seems to be the main source of statistics. In the 2012 report <http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/aids-sida/publication /survreport/2012/dec/index-eng.php>, under the race/ethnicity distribution, I found a statement to the effect that “HIV reporting in Canada has included a race/ethnicity component since 1998” which would imply that there is such data for the 1980’s. In the absence of data by ethnicity, would it possible to obtain the total number of cases for Quebec annually for the 1980 to 1990 period? Unfortunately, the older editions of the Surveillance Reports are not online.
I’ve also checked at the provincial level and the Institut national de santé publique du Québec mentions that its epidemiologic data gathering started in 2002, so no luck there either.
Answer
I confirmed with subject matter that we do not collect this information and as you already noted that inquiries should be directed to PHAC.
I did find the following reference on their site of potential interest:
Population-Specific HIV/AIDS Status Reports <http://atlantique.phac.gc.ca/aids-sida/publication/index-eng.php#ps>
I’ve also checked at the provincial level and the Institut national de santé publique du Québec mentions that its epidemiologic data gathering started in 2002, so no luck there either.
Answer
I confirmed with subject matter that we do not collect this information and as you already noted that inquiries should be directed to PHAC.
I did find the following reference on their site of potential interest:
Population-Specific HIV/AIDS Status Reports <http://atlantique.phac.gc.ca/aids-sida/publication/index-eng.php#ps>
