HIV: A GROWING CONCERN IN SASKATCHEWAN

Saskatchewan's HIV rates are causing concern throughout the medical
community, bringing forward comparisons with developing nations.

"Over the past five years you have seen the rates stabilize in
sub-Saharan Africa ... it has done the killing and now it has
stabilized. That was the bubble bursting," said Dr. Khami Chokani,
medical health officer of the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region,
who's worked in countries across southern Africa.

"If you think decimating the African population was bad ... HIV in
this province will kill 15 to 30 per cent (of the aboriginal
population). Not all at one time, but over a five-to10-year period."

In Saskatchewan, there were 174 cases of HIV in 2008, a three-fold
increase from 2004, according to data released by the Ministry of Health.

Aboriginal people are the largest group affected, and intravenous
drug users sharing needles is the main way HIV is transmitted in this province.

Young aboriginal women are of increasing concern.

"In the publichealth sector, this is having a considerable effect, as
these increases are appearing primarily in the young females,
pregnant women and newborn babies," Chokani said.

Dr. Moira McKinnon, Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, said
the current situation is becoming "urgent" and that it is "escalating."

" There are babies being born with HIV and that's completely
avoidable. We know that young girls are getting infected and they are
getting sick very quickly, and all of this is avoidable, if we get
onto it," she said. Stephen Lewis, a professor in global health at
McMaster University, can't understand how babies are born with HIV in
North America.

"Some of the double standards are terribly worrisome ... There is no
excuse whatsoever in Canada for having a double standard ( between)
major hospitals or pediatric centres in the south and what happens in
aboriginal communities in the North," he said during a phone
interview with the Herald from his office in Toronto.

"It's just inexcusable, it's indefensible, it's unconscionable, that
aboriginal babies should be born HIV positive, when it's not
necessary. " During Lewis's tenure as the UN Secretary-General's
Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, he saw that treatment for an
HIV-positive woman who is carrying a child or continuing care for a
baby could reduce mother-to-child transmission by almost 99 per cent.

Health officials here are also concerned about accessibility to health care.

There are many people in the First Nations community who distrust the
health system, said Kelly Patrick, interim director of health for
Metis Nation-Saskatchewan.

"They don't feel compelled to go to the reserve clinic because that's
a community clinic and once they walk into the reserve clinic and you
ask to be tested ... the cat is out of the bag," she said.

Provincial, federal and aboriginal jurisdictional boundaries make it
difficult for people with HIV to access the care they need, according
to health officials. "What's missing is, a lot of the connections
between authorities, information flow, the understanding of what's
driving this epidemic and resources to deal with it, because the
caseload is becoming unmanageable," said McKinnon, who heads the
provincial HIV strategy.

Stigma and discrimination associated with HIV needs to be addressed
to reverse misinformation and increase understanding of the virus, said Lewis.

"The stigma that is associated with AIDS is entrenched in many of the
aboriginal communities, making it very difficult for them to deal
with the issue," he said.

"Things are pretty grim in a number of communities, whether it is the
downtown Vancouver's eastside or whether it's northern Saskatchewan
communities."

HIV and aids

HIV is short for human immunodeficiency virus, a virus that causes AIDS.

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and is caused by HIV.

Someone with HIV needs to have two infections, such as tuberculosis,
related to their lowered immune system before they are considered to have AIDS.

17 per 100,000 people are HIV positive in Saskatchewan

10 per 100,000 people is the national average

HIV transmission can increase exponentially if it isn't addressed quickly

Source: Provincial health data