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Aboriginal people are disproportionately effected by AIDS in Canada.
Aboriginal people in Canada represent 3.3% of the population and yet aboriginal people accounted for 10% of all the AIDS cases reported to the Canadian Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control in 1999. As Health Canada reports, this trend showed a decline in 2000 and 2001. However the first half of 2002 showed a marked increase with aboriginal people representing 14.1% of all AIDS cases.
So why are aboriginal people so disproportionately represented in the number of AIDS cases in Canada? Perhaps for the same reasons that they are more likely to suffer from higher crime, poorer education, a lower standard of living, a higher rate of drug use, higher rates of chronic medical conditions and infectious diseases, and higher unemployment rates. A history of oppression, injustice, abuse in residential schools, widespread discrimination, a lack of access to resources, a loss of land and culture...
A worsening AIDS crisis within the Aboriginal communities will only contribute to the further deterioration of social, educational, and living conditions leading to a vicious cycle. Because the underlying factors are so varied, a multi-pronged approach is necessary. This way of thinking is apparent in many organizations which focus on HIV/AIDS in the aboriginal communities. For example, the Red Road HIV/AIDS network in B.C lists organizations that focus solely on aboriginal employment counseling services, women's shelters, housing, drug and alcohol counseling, and justice and advocacy, as member organizations.
HIV/AIDS solutions should focus on prevention and specifically education. The Canadian aboriginal population is both culturally diverse and young. The 2001 Canadian census found that the median age for Aboriginal people was 24.7 compared with 37.7 years for the non-Aboriginal population. This means that education, if it is culturally relevant, can play an important role in AIDS prevention.
In addition, resources need to be made more readily accessible to Aboriginal communities. Many Aboriginal people live in geographically isolated areas where access to support services is scarce. As well there is an exceptionally high rate of poverty of Aboriginal people in urban areas. The 1996 Canadian census found that urban-dwelling Aboriginals were more than twice as likely to be living in poverty as compared to their non-Aboriginal counterparts. Poverty, again, impacts all areas of an individual's life, making them more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
Curbing this disturbing AIDS trend in the Aboriginal population is a daunting task and unfortunately, as is too often the case, the people who are most impacted are in the position least able to do anything.
For other articles on Aboriginal Issues go to Aboriginal Rights
The copyright of the article AIDS and Canadian Aboriginals in AIDS/HIV is owned by Bethina Abrahams. Permission to republish AIDS and Canadian Aboriginals in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Comments
Aug 23, 2006 10:49 PM
Tyson Woorama :
this is interesting - lifestyles experienced by lower socioeconomic
background people bring higher levels of aids - ergo, aboriginal peoples
(being the most marginalised) tend to have higher levels of aids in
communities (except in remote places of course).
however, some
of taiwan's indigenous people have lower levels of aids infection - despite
having higher levels of employment in the sex industry.
result?
taiwan peoples' dna is harvested by western scientists as an anomoly and
possible source of aids medicine. the dna of individuals is then patented
by corporations and sold for 50 bucks per sample on the web. true - do a
googlesearch for taiwan indigenous dna, and you'll probably find more sites
selling the stuff than sites debating whether it is right to do so.
Aug 27, 2006 9:21 PM
Bethina Abrahams :
Thanks for the post.
I was under the impression that human DNA
could not be patented, but I could be wrong. When I did the search, I did
find an article about a DNA database that the Taiwanese are starting. The
issue seems to be about informed consent for aboriginal people. Apparently
in the past, they have taken blood samples from Aboriginal people for
health checks and used the samples for research that they did not have
consent for. This seems to be a universal issue with research and
aboriginal communities. I know that in B.C, because of past exploitation,
aboriginal communities are more careful about making sure that research
done in aboriginal communities will benefit those communities and not just
the researchers who publish.
Aug 29, 2006 10:49 PM
Tyson Woorama :
yeah, they're not patenting it - just harvesting it as if from farm
animals. "informed consent" - always a part of
"consultation" and a big joke. were the people informed that
their dna would be sold on the internet to anybody, and that profits would
not be shared with those the dna was harvested from?
most
indigenous peoples have knowledge of blood as something that can used to
harm a person supernaturally. i can't imagine any indigenous person
willingly giving up their blood to be sold to anybody who wants it.
Sep 1, 2006 2:57 PM
Bethina Abrahams :
That's the problem. People are not being told the truth about why their
blood is being taken. I think the onus lies on the research community to
be diligent about the projects they support and where they get their
materials. They should take the steps necessary to find out where things
like blood is coming from and if it was obtained ethically.
4 Comments
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