‘A wake-up call’

New Manitoba HIV study reveals massive aboriginal overrepresentation, dispels transmission stereotypes

Participants take part in the Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life. Of the 80 new HIV cases diagnosed and referred to the Manitoba HIV Program in 2011, 53 per cent of cases identified themselves as aboriginal – a stark and disproportionate overrepresentation of a demographic comprising only 15.5 per cent of Manitoba’s population. Supplied
Participants take part in the Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life. Supplied

A new report by the Manitoba HIV Program (MHIVP) has shed light on an ongoing problem.

According to the annual report, 80 new cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were diagnosed and referred to the program in 2011 from within the province —down from 102 in 2010 and 99 in 2009. Of these, 56 per cent were male and 44 per cent were female.

The report’s most striking statistics, however, are those describing the virus’s mode of transmission and ethnic representation.

Of the new cases, 53 per cent identified themselves as aboriginal — a figure that reveals a starkly disproportionate overrepresentation of a demographic comprising only 15.5 per cent of the province’s population, according to 2006 census data.

Additionally, in 2011, 67 per cent of new-to-care cases contracted the virus via heterosexual sex — up from 42 per cent in 2009.

Other modes of transmission listed in the report — including men having sex with men (MSM) and injection drug use (IDU) — have seen a drop over the three-year period.

Sané Dube, membership coordinator for the Nine Circles Community Health Centre, one of the two Winnipeg sites that form the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority-founded MHIVP, thinks most Manitobans have a skewed perception of what HIV and AIDS really look like in their province and across the country.

“They just don’t think it’s something that can affect them — but it is and it can,” she said.

Nine Circles provides care for those living with HIV, promotes prevention via education and resource distribution (the centre offers free instruction for safer sex and injection drug use, as well as condoms and clean needles) and on-site testing for all STIs at its West Broadway location.

While some Manitobans believe that they are immune to HIV infection if they do not engage in homosexual sex nor intravenous drug use, the new report offers clear evidence to the contrary, Dube noted.

“HIV doesn’t discriminate,” she said.

Ken Clement, executive director of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, a non-profit, federally funded organization, called the MHIVP report “a wake-up call.”

According to Clement, a variety of health and social determinants within the Canadian aboriginal community in general — ranging from lower-quality education and higher unemployment rates to inferior socio-economic status and the lasting effects of colonialism — all contribute to a “very complicated health issue.”

Clement also mentioned that young aboriginals who move between reserves and urban centres are at an increased risk of HIV infection.

“We need to have a multi-pronged approach (with respect to HIV in the aboriginal community),” he said, noting that reserve, community and government leaders need to co-operate if progress is to be seen.

“(HIV) is not an aboriginal problem — it’s a Canadian problem,” he said.

The office of Manitoba Minister of Healthy Living Jim Rondeau verified statistics via email.

Published in Volume 67, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 19, 2012)

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