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According to health officials, there are 3,500 people in B.C. living with HIV who don't know it.

Of those, up to 250 live in the Interior Health region, says Maja Karlsson, IH Stop HIV program implementation co-ordinator.

Karlsson adds the majority of those 250 would live in the Okanagan “because we have the biggest population.”

IH has launched a new campaign to show how advances in HIV treatment and care have improved the lives of those living with the disease. The campaign aims to break down stereotypes that prevent people from being tested and accessing life-saving treatment.

The HIV Then & Now campaign builds on the momentum of Interior Health’s My Health is Sexy campaign, which was launched in December 2014. The HIV Then and Now campaign tells the stories of people who are living with HIV today. It puts faces to a disease that just 20 years ago, in the absence of effective treatment, often progressed to AIDS and a death sentence.

Today, people receiving treatment for HIV can expect to live long, healthy lives, free of symptoms.

“For us to achieve an AIDS-free generation within our lifetime, we need to address the stigma and fear related to HIV,” says Dr. Trevor Corneil, Medical Health Officer with Interior Health. “Stigma stops people from being tested and starting treatment. This campaign shows how extraordinary advances in treatment have transformed HIV into a manageable disease that no longer needs to be feared.”

The campaign is part of the Seek and Treat for Optimal Prevention of HIV/AIDS (STOP HIV/AIDS) program, which aims to increase HIV testing rates, reduce transmission and improve the health outcomes of those living with HIV.

The only way to know for sure if someone has HIV and to engage that person in treatment is through a test. Early diagnosis supports optimal health outcomes for infected people and reduces the likelihood of transmission to others. Since Interior Health launched the program in 2012, testing in the region has increased by 32 per cent.