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."