AIDS epidemic among Aboriginal people

Since it was first identified 25 years ago, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, has claimed the lives of around 25 million people worldwide. And, each day, an estimated 8,000 people are added to the list of the dead.

From Aug. 13 to 18, scientists, educators, policy makers, service organizers, community leaders and people living with AIDS and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, the virus that causes AIDS) from around the world came together in Toronto to take part in the 16th International AIDS Conference. Held every two years, the conference provides a forum for the sharing of information about HIV/AIDS and what is being done to address this global pandemic.

Kevin Barlow was one of the participants attending the conference. As executive director of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network Inc., one of the reasons Barlow took part in the conference was to remind policy-makers that the AIDS epidemic isn't just happening in Third World countries, it's happening in this country as well.

"It's important to look at issues like Africa and what's going on in developing countries, but you know, one of the messages we wanted to drive home was that here within Canada we still have an epidemic that's not under control yet, certainly in the Aboriginal population," he said.

The rate of HIV/AIDS infection among Aboriginal people in Canada is estimated to be three times higher than among the general population. It's also estimated that, on average, one more Aboriginal person becomes infected each and every day.

Current estimates put the number of Aboriginal people in Canada infected with HIV/AIDS at somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000, Barlow said. One reason for the huge range is that some provinces don't collect ethnic information on HIV positive test reports. Another is that fewer Aboriginal people are getting tested.

One of the factors contributing to the high infection rate among Aboriginal people in Canada is that, until recently, very little in the way of government funding for AIDS organizations was making its way to the Aboriginal community.

"In other words, when you don't invest in prevention work, then you get infections," Barlow said. "We were sounding these alarms years ago but there was no response. And then, finally, once they started seeing the numbers, that's when they started making changes."

Even now, the funding that is received for HIV/AIDS programs within the Aboriginal community is tenuous, at best. Barlow pointed to two Aboriginal AIDS service organizations in Manitoba that had to close their doors recently when the federal Conservative government cut their funding.

"So here we are, listed as one of the target populations in the HIV/AIDS strategy, but yet we're facing closure of some of our member groups. So obviously we're getting mixed messages from the government on whether we're a priority or not."

The high infection rate among Aboriginal people is also a result of the social and economic problems that exist within many Indigenous communities.

"Basically those determinants of health that are compromised in the Aboriginal community, like lower education levels, housing issues, social factors and influences like residential schooling,"

Kevin Barlow said. "So that's why some people, when they experience really traumatic events like physical and sexual abuse in residential schools, they grow up to be wounded people and sometimes turn to alcohol and drugs to cope."

Injecting drug use accounts for about two-thirds of new HIV infections, largely because of the practice of needle sharing, Barlow said.

"If one person is positive and they share that needle with three, four or five people, then the numbers grow that rapidly."

Canada isn't alone when it comes to having a disproportionate number of its Aboriginal people infected with HIV/AIDS. The situation is similar in countries across the globe.

A handful of conference sessions were dedicated to discussion of the HIV/AIDS epidemic within Indigenous populations, with presenters from Canada, the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Chad, India, Australia and New Zealand, taking part, but more has to be done to ensure the Aboriginal voice continues to be heard. With that goal in mind, CAAN has begun preparing for the next conference in Mexico in 2008, Barlow said.

"Our organization has formed an international Indigenous HIV/AIDS secretariat and we're going to be working to make sure that in future international conferences Indigenous issues are at the forefront and that we continue to be on the agenda."