Increased HIV transmission in Manitoba has prompted the province to declare a public health emergency, its chief provincial public health officer announced Thursday.
An estimated 120 cases have been reported provincially in the first quarter of this year, according to Dr. Brent Roussin, though he cautioned that this recent data may have duplicates from people who were tested more than once.
“HIV rates in Manitoba have sharply risen over the last number of years. In 2025, there were 328 new cases reported. If we compare that to 2021, we saw 142 cases that year,” he said.
One perinatal case, where an infant was born with HIV, was reported in 2025, according to a provincial news release.
Cases tend to be concentrated in Manitoba’s Northern and Prairie Mountain health regions, but, due to its high population, Winnipeg has the highest number of people with HIV, Roussin said.
“This is significant. It’s concerning, and it requires a co-ordinated action across governments, communities and health systems,” the doctor added.
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This state of emergency provides Manitoba with access to non-traditional forms of testing, including self-testing, and increases the availability of standard blood draw tests for HIV, Roussin said.
HIV is transmitted via bodily fluids, including blood, semen and vaginal fluids, and breast milk.
Injection drug use and unprotected heterosexual sex are the leading causes for the spread of HIV, the provincial government said.
Improving access to care for the virus is vital to slowing its spread, according to Manitoba’s chief health officer.
“We also know that early diagnosis and treatment saves lives. When an individual living with HIV takes their medication regularly, the level of the virus in their blood becomes undetectable eventually.”
When the virus becomes undetectable, it can’t be transmitted, he added.
Trends in the province were said to be different from national numbers. More than half of the province’s cases are in women, compared with 32 per cent of Canadians with HIV. Most of the cases in Manitoba were in women under 40, the province said.
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