La Zone Rose returns to Ste-Catherine Street with a shipping container that serves as a centre for intervention, discussion and free walk-in HIV/STI screenings for men and transgender individuals
Last year a Montreal-based non-profit made an incredible impact on their community and on the ongoing fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic by promoting sexual health and offering free walk-in HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) screenings to men and transgender individuals across the city. This year the initiative is back, expanded and ready to make an even bigger impact.
La Zone Rose is a pop-up, walk-in clinic operated by RÉZO, a Montreal-based non-profit that has been around since 1991 and promotes mental, physical, social and sexual health to GBQ (gay, bisexual, queer) men and transgender people.
RÉZO has been doing outreach in Montreal’s gay Village for over three decades and has long had a kiosk on Ste-Catherine Street in the summer months. It started La Zone Rose last year as a way to encourage the public to get tested while bringing the community together. Because rapid access to testing remains incredibly difficult for many in Montreal, and because testing is the key to reducing the transmission of HIV and other STIs, RÉZO believes that communities have the right to services that are adapted to them, which is what really drives the initiative.
“La Zone Rose reinforces direct access to screening and is becoming an essential service in the Village, if only to listen and get informed on a wide range of key topics for our communities,” Alexandre Dumont Blais, executive director of RÉZO, tells IN Magazine.
When La Zone Rose opened its colourful shipping container doors last summer, people immediately began lining up, showing the need for such services in the area. “Our first edition was a resounding success,” Dumont Blais says. “This summer, we’re kicking things up a notch with a wider range of screening options.”
It’s back!
For its second edition, La Zone Rose is back on Ste-Catherine Street (between Panet and Plessis) and open from Tuesday to Saturday, from 2 pm to 7 pm, until September 28, 2024, for those who want to talk about their sexual, physical and/or mental health. The shipping container, with its giant pink cone on the roof, is also open to those who are simply in need of easy and quick HIV and STI testing. This year, the presence of La Zone Rose is being strengthened and extended with a creative and unique pink zone.
La Zone Rose, with its diverse team and street work experience, provides listening, information on key issues, and prevention materials. They aim to improve the Village’s image by showcasing the solidarity and mobilizing abilities of the community and its allies.
Since RÉZO is a registered non-profit, bringing back La Zone Rose and expanding the initiative with the pink zone has relied on the assistance of community and corporate partners like Gilead Sciences Canada. This is the second year that Gilead has financially supported the Zone Rose initiative.
Gilead has committed to collaborating with community-based outreach organizations like RÉZO to promote HIV care.
“I’m proud that Gilead works with organizations like RÉZO to address barriers preventing access to HIV care,” says Kevin Schultz, HIV Business Unit Director at Gilead. “Investments and collaborations like this one are essential in our mission to help end the HIV epidemic for everyone, everywhere.”
Stats reinforce the need for more testing
On average, six Canadians die every week from HIV-related illnesses, and 35 more are newly diagnosed with the virus, according to HIV surveillance reports published by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). The most recent report highlights a 25 per cent increase in new HIV diagnoses since 2021, representing the largest increase in the last decade. A similar increase was observed in Montreal, where Public Health reported that the number of HIV diagnoses jumped 120 per cent in 2022.
The jump is partially explained by an increase in testing, according to Julian Gitelman, the lead physician for the sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections team at Montreal Public Health, and there is a need for more testing. Gitelman says the key to reaching the UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) target of zero new diagnoses is prevention.
RÉZO says that GBQ men continue to be significantly affected by HIV in Canada, accounting for 38 per cent of new cases in 2022.
“Our communities also bear the burden of other STIs such as LGV (lymphogranuloma venereum) and, more recently, Mpox,” RÉZO said in a news release. “Gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis continue to disproportionately affect our communities.”
Stats don’t lie – and they provide even more proof of the importance of the work being done in Montreal by Dumont Blais, RÉZO and the Zone Rose initiative. Encouraging the public to get tested and stay protected is an excellent way to bring the community together and help put an end to the HIV epidemic.
La Zone Rose is in the heart of Montreal’s gay Village on Ste-Catherine Street and will continue operating until September 28, 2024, from Tuesday to Saturday from 2 pm to 7 pm (subject to change). For more information, visit www.rezosante.org.
This story was made possible with support from Gilead Sciences Canada, Inc.
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