Aboriginal leaders urged to help end AIDS stigma and support those infected

Every day in Canada, an aboriginal person finds out that he or she has been infected with HIV/AIDS, says the Canadian Aboriginal Aids Network.

And Inuit suffering from these infections need their communities’ support, not fear.

That’s what the Canadian Aboriginal Aids Network wants to communicate during Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week, Dec. 1 to 5.

“All aboriginal leaders… are being called upon to lead the way to eliminate the stigma and discrimination that too many Aboriginal people living with HIV/AIDS experience,” says a bulletin from CAAN.

“When a community refuses to challenge those who discriminate, then there is greater chance that anyone else in that community who may be at risk of HIV infection will not step forward for information, testing and support.”

CAAN has various events planned in Ottawa during the coming week. Many materials, including posters and an activity guide, in English, Inuktitut and French, can also be downloaded from their website at www.caan.ca/aaaw.

CAAN says half the aboriginal persons diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2005 were infected by injecting drugs, and more than a third were infected from heterosexual sexual relations.

The most common route of HIV infection for Inuit is through unprotected heterosexual sex, says Pauktuutit’s web site.

The site, which supports the national women’s association Inuit HIV/AIDS prevention activities, says:

* In 2003, the number of Canadian Inuit officially reported to have AIDS was 18;
* Violence, sexual as­sault, incarceration, drug and alcohol abuse and low self-esteem, poor education and lower levels of income are risk factors for HIV/AIDS;
* High pregnancy rates are evidence that Inuit are engaging in unprotected sex;
* Inuit inmates in federal prisons live in a high-risk environment for HIV and Hepatitis C infection and may bring either or both diseases back to their home communities when they leave jail;
* Young Inuit often leave home communities to study in a southern city, which increases their risk of coming in contact with HIV or Hepatitis C;
* Inuit living with either HIV or Hepatitis C in the South may decide to return home as their diseases progress, which “requires community members and health staff to have basic understanding of precautions and treatment.”

For more information, visit www.pauktuutit.ca and click the HIV link.