The purpose of the OCS is to collect information on the clinical and health profiles of people living with HIV in care in Ontario to provide a robust information resource for clinical, socio-behavioural, population health, and health services research. Our aims are:

• To understand the pychosocial and health context of people living with HIV
• To understand patterns of health services use
• To understand issues related to mental health and addictions
• To examine HIV infection and its complications
• To examine HIV treatment and its complications, including adverse events and HIV drug resistance
• To examine co-morbid diseases and conditions among people living with HIV
• To examine social, psychological, and other factors related to behaviour that poses risk for secondary HIV transmission

• Community ownership and governance
• Informed and voluntary consent
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Greater Involvement of People living with or affected by HIV/AIDS
• Accountability
• Sustainability

To maintain a rich and comprehensive dataset by:

• Ensuring participants reflect the Ontario HIV epidemic with oversampling of vulnerable populations where appropriate
• Supporting ongoing collection of appropriate and evolving health data (both questionnaire and medical information) to ensure capacity to examine new and emerging health issues
• Establishing and supporting linkages with other data sources including multi-cohort collaborations

To promote collaboration and synergy in developing research questions by:

• Ensuring rigorous and relevant scientific explorations that may lead to influencing new or changes in policy, care and treatment for people living with HIV especially populations most vulnerable
• Encouraging multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder and community collaborations
• Providing support for scientific and community partnerships in the development of OCS research
• Inviting external community (especially vulnerable communities), clinical researchers and students to participate in OCS research

To share knowledge gained through OCS research by:

• Promoting scientific publications to influence practice and policy
• Using OHTN knowledge and communication tools and networks to disseminate findings
• Ensuring that health research information is accessible and available to all stakeholders, including public and health policy makers, people living with HIV especially populations that are most vulnerable, and healthcare providers