A report card issued by the HIV/AIDS community in Canada sent a strong message to governments at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna on Tuesday, saying current strategies for fighting the deadly disease are putting lives at risk.

In the report presented by HIV-positive activists, researchers, AIDS organizations and human rights and HIV/AIDS lawyers, Canada received a failing grade in recognizing the needs of women and girls to protect themselves from HIV and to manage HIV infection.

In Canada, the number of infected women continues to rise from just over 11 per cent of new infections prior to 1999 to over 26 per cent in 2008, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

By the end of 2008, the most recent year with data, there were an estimated 14,300 women living with HIV (including AIDS) in Canada, accounting for about 22 per cent of the national total.

While Canada received a middling C grade for diagnosis, prevention and education, Canada received an F for stigma and discrimination.

The activists said the stigma and discrimination toward HIV and HIV-positive people in Canada is "rampant," especially towards young women.

In particular, the report points out the problems with getting support for Aboriginal and migrant women, incarcerated women, injection drug users and sex trade workers.

"The federal government should have increased funding in the face of multiple needs in the growing number of HIV affected populations," said Louise Binder of the Blueprint for Action on Women and Girls and HIV/AIDS in a statement. "Instead it is abdicating its role to protect the health and lives of people in Canada."

The AIDS groups said the Conservative government squandered funds on AIDS initiatives by not developing a strong marketing campaign aimed at combating the stigma of being HIV positive.

"By deleting abortion from its G8 maternal health proposal, by fighting Canada's only legal safe injection site at the Supreme Court of Canada and by criminalizing sex work, Canada's government is fuelling stigma and discrimination," said Binder.

The federal government is attempting to shut down the Vancouver safe-injection site, known as Insite, despite objections that the facility helps prevent the spread of AIDS.

The groups also slammed the government for taking money from Canadian AIDS funding for a vaccine plant that was never built.

In February 2007, $110 million was set aside by the federal government and in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a Canadian laboratory to develop AIDS vaccines for clinical trials.

But in February 2010, it was announced that plans for the manufacturing centre were being halted.

Thousands of delegates from around the world have congregated at the AIDS conference in Vienna in an effort to develop better strategies to combat the worldwide epidemic.

According to the World Health Organization, 33.4 million people were living with HIV in 2008. While the number of deaths is declining, about 2.7 million new infections still occur each year.