The AIDS Committee of North Bay and Area (ACNBA) is one of five organizations receiving funding to strengthen peer engagement in Northern Ontario.
The federal government says the money will help First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, people who use drugs, and people living with HIV/hepatitis C to provide peer-to-peer front-line delivery, outreach, and interventions through educational workshops and sessions.
ACNBA receives nearly $516,000.
Officials say the project will foster accessible, sustainable, stigma-free prevention, treatment, and support across the north.
They say it will go beyond the urban centres and health districts.
“The funding announced today will help organizations engage with people living with HIV, hepatitis C and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI), as well as those at risk of infection to help communities with prevention and harm reductions, testing, treatment, and support needs,” says Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health. “Projects like these take us one more step closer towards reaching our global targets by 2030.”
Groups in Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Barrie and Toronto are also receiving funding and are part of the Strengthening Peer Engagement in Northern Ontario project.
The funding comes from the federal HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund.
