‘Stigma does nothing to end syphilis’: New campaign focuses on educating to prevent transmission

Advocates are hoping to build on momentum generated around syphilis awareness with a new campaign in Alberta.

The Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC), a research centre based in Vancouver, has released three community guides: a basic educational resource, a guide tailored for sexual and gender-diverse people planning to have children, and a guide to Doxy-PEP, a single-dose antibiotic taken within 72 hours after sex that can prevent syphilis transmission.

The centre has also released multiple resources for health-care providers on providing informed and culturally safe care to LGBTQ2S+ communities.

Syphilis is a bacterial sexually transmitted infection that can also be passed on to a baby during pregnancy or childbirth. Transmission rates remain at outbreak level.

According to federal data, some 12,000 Canadians had been diagnosed with either infectious or congenital syphilis as of 2023.

The number of infectious cases doubled between 2018 and 2023 and make up the vast majority of syphilis cases in the country; during the same time period, congenital cases tripled from 17 to 53.

In 2023, Alberta’s rate of syphilis infection was 51 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the national average of 30.5. It has dropped by 31 per cent between 2021 and 2022, however.

“We are beginning to see some progress and sometimes when that happens, it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s OK, not a big deal.’ But I think now is the time to double down,” Brook Biggin, CBRC spokesperson, told CTV News Edmonton on Friday of making the most of government investment.

Because gender and sexual diverse people are disproportionately impacted by syphilis, CBRC will also be taking its campaign to Pride celebrations in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge over the summer.

“If you want to come by, see us, have a little party, a little kiki, we’d love to see you there,” Biggin said.

“Being scared to talk about it doesn’t really help anybody. We really want to encourage people that, first of all, these resources are a great place to start. You can look at them in the privacy of your own phone or your own laptop, and then when you’re ready, you can go and start to have those conversations with health-care providers you trust…. Stigma does nothing to end syphilis, but prevention, testing and treatment does.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Sierra Dolson