According to a new survey released by Ipsos-Reid and World Vision Canada, 40 per cent of Canadians believe the government's foreign spending on HIV/AIDS is "too little."
 
"The reports' findings are challenging because it is clear that Canada is not doing enough. It shows that the Canadian public recognizes that the need created by the pandemic continues to outpace current funding," says World Vision President Dave Toycen. "Increased foreign spending on HIV/AIDS programs by the Canadian Government should include new funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as well as increased money for other HIV/AIDS programs."

A majority of Canadians, 60 per cent feel HIV/AIDS is an international emergency. Respondents also believe the pandemic is also fuelled by a lack of education and poverty. In fact, 82 per cent of respondents agree that "lack of education is a key cause in the spread of HIV/AIDS", 59 per cent cited poverty as a key cause and, nearly half (46 per cent) of respondents believe that "lack of political will in the international community is a key cause of HIV/AIDS."

"Reflecting upon these results policy makers should understand that the majority of Canadians believe this to be an international crisis. And when almost 10 million adults* indicate that the Government of Canada is not spending enough on HIV/AIDS, it is a sizeable voice that should be heeded," says Ipsos-Reid Senior Vice President John Wright.

The percentage of Canadians who believe a lack of political will in the international community is a key cause to HIV/AIDS is highest in Quebec (54 per cent), Atlantic Canada (49 per cent) and the Prairie provinces (47 per cent). The propensity to agree with the statement increases with age and education. Also women (44 per cent) are more likely than men (36 per cent) to think the Canadian government's foreign spending on HIV/AIDS is too little. 

Nearly all respondents (88 per cent) recognize that the continent of Africa has suffered the greatest impact from the pandemic. Most, however, are unaware that women and young girls are the most vulnerable to the disease, with just two in ten Canadians saying so (19 per cent and 20 per cent respectively).

Many respondents considered men the most vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS, with 39 per cent of Canadians saying so. In reality women and young girls are more vulnerable than males to HIV infection, for reasons of biology, gender and cultural norms. Thus an estimated 7.3 million girls and young women are living with HIV/AIDS compared to 4.5 million boys young men according to UNAIDS data**. This highlights the lack of information about the current face of HIV/AIDS. 

"Young girls and women bear the brunt of this disease, studies show that women and young girls are two-and-a-half times more likely to be infected than young boys or men," says Toycen. "It is not only those who contract the disease, but also the sisters, mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers who have to care for the millions of orphans and ill in their community."

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/World Vision poll conducted between February 17th and February 19th, 2004.  The telephone survey is based on a randomly selected sample of 1059 adult Canadians.  With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within ± 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled.  The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.  These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

*40 per cent of 24 million Canadian Adults is 9,600,000.
**Young people ages 15-24

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian relief and development organization active in more than 90 countries around the world, providing help to more than 85 million people each year.