AIDS and Canadian Aboriginals
The Impact of AIDS on Aboriginal Communities in Canada.
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
