How is AIDS/HIV Contracted?
Though the virus HIV is the premature stage of the disease AIDS, both remain very similar and are transmitted in the same way. HIV/AIDS, has been rumoured to be transmitted through physical contact, the air, and even through kissing, all of which proved to be false. Scientists now urge that after extensive testing, there is strong evidence to support the theory that AIDS is only transmitted in three different ways: 1.) sexual intercourse, whether vaginal or anal, with an infected person; 2.) exposure to infected blood or blood products; 3.) and from an infected mother to her infant during birth. At least 97 percent of all Canada’s AIDS cases have been transmitted through one of these routes, and though researchers have extracted HIV from a number of body fluids, including: blood, semen, saliva, tears, urine, breast milk, and vaginal secretions, there is no evidence that these "hot" fluids may infect another person through physical contact (Jackson, Reimer, ).
As HIV infects the host, it may remain undisturbed for a lengthy period of time. This is the reason why it is one of the world’s leading killers, because there are no noticeable symptoms of infection to the human eye, and it does not kill its host very quickly. Therefore, deaths from AIDS go on unnoticed. In 1997 alone, there were 2.3 million deaths worldwide as a result of AIDS, up from 1996's death toll of 1.5 M. (Statistics Canada, 2006). The only symptoms of the disease are internal, and they require tests. A test accounting for the number of T4 cells in the body has proven to be an effective method in targeting HIV/AIDS victims, along with other similar tests that give very high percentages of accurate results, such as the Hepatitis B test (Health Canada Agency, 2010). Many people who feel that they may have contracted the virus choose not to be tested in fear that they may have it. This only leads to more amplification of the virus over the world as unsuspecting hosts transfer it other victims.
Aboriginal People are at a Higher Risk
HIV/AIDS does not see colour nor does it see race or culture, no one is immume. Yet the Aboriginal people of Canada, who make up just three per cent of the country's population, have an infection rate of nine per cent, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Although new HIV infections among the total population has gone down in the Canadian population, it appears that HIV rates have been steadily increasing in First Nations populations (CBC News, 2006). Canada’s Aboriginal people continue to be over-represented in the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2005, Aboriginal people represented an estimated 200 to 400 new HIV infections that year, according to Canada's Public Health Agency. At the end of 2005, there was an estimated 3,600 to 5,100 aboriginal people living with the disease (Health Canada Agency, 2010).
Aboriginal people are at increased risk for HIV infections for several reasons. Social, economic, and behavioural factors such as poverty, substance use, including injection drug use, sexually transmitted diseases, and limited access to health services, have increased their vulnerability.
The economic and social power imbalance between Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people in Canada affects our communities with a host of social problems. HIV is rapidly becoming one of them. Studies in mainstream society also show that instances of HIV infection occur more frequently, where poverty, violence, drug abuse and alcoholism are present (Novak, 2006).
Injection drug use is the most common way Aboriginal people in Canada are exposed to the HIV virus. A trend that has been getting worse over time. Before 1993, 11 per cent of all Aboriginal people AIDS cases stemmed from injection drug use. By 2003, this rose to 51.7 per cent (Jackson, Reimer, 2005).
The social condition in which many of Canada’s Aboriginal people live has an impact on the rates of HIV/AIDS in these communities. Aboriginal peoples living conditions or quality of life ranks 63rd, or amongst Third World conditions, according to an Indian and Northern Affairs Canada study that applied Aboriginal-specific statistics to the Human Development Index created by the United Nations. Canada dropped from first to eighth as the best country in the world to live primarily due to housing and health conditions of Aboriginal Communities (Deschamps, 1998).
The racism, colonialism, and cultural genocide have had a devastating effect on Aboriginal people in Canada and throughout North America. A 2005 study updated in Canadian Aboriginal People living with HIV/AIDS: Care, Treatment and Support Issues, indicates that 16% of the 195 Aboriginal people living with HIV/AIDS reached in the study, attended a Residential School. 60% of the group said that they had a parent attend a Residential School; while 85% noted that they had a parent, guardian or grandparent who had attended. (Jackson, Reimer, 2005) The effects of Residential Schools will be felt by Aboriginal people for generations to come. Often the effects of poverty, discrimination, and the weight of historical events such as the residential school system lead to negative and destructive coping mechanisms, such as substance abuse.
Mobility between city and rural/reserve communities is an important factor in the introduction and spread of HIV as well as access to health and social services. As excerpted from the 2006 Canadian Census; “With a median age of 27 years, the Aboriginal population is on average younger than the rest of Canada’s population (median age of approximately 40 years). It is also more concentrated in rural areas often remote from large urban centers. Because of these two characteristics of the Aboriginal population, this population is more likely to migrate than others are. With a probability of migrating of 5.82%, the results show that Aboriginal people are indeed more mobile than non Aboriginal people (4.90%)” (Statistics Canada, 2008).
Aboriginal Women Among the Hardest Hit
The proportion of women with HIV and AIDS is greater when comparing the aboriginal people and general Canadian populations. Women represent nearly half (45 per cent) of all positive HIV reports in the aboriginal people population, while for the non-aboriginal population the figure is about 20 per cent (Statistics Canada, 2006).
Alarmingly, large and increasing portions of HIV infections are occurring in young Aboriginal women between 15-29 years old. Between 1985 and 1995, roughly 13% of HIV-positive test reports among Aboriginal women were in young women in this age group. However, this percentage has increased steadily to approximately 37% in 1998, and 45% in 2001 (Statistics Canada 2008).
These socio-economic conditions are strongly associated with a positive HIV test result for Aboriginal women, and they contribute to the creation of harsh living environments in which techniques used to simply survive often include high-risk behaviours, such as rural to urban migration, homelessness, sex trade and/or sex work, injection drug use and alcohol abuse.
Economic issues facing Aboriginal communities also create greater despair and fewer opportunities. For some Aboriginal women, the sex trade becomes a means of survival as they struggle to provide for children or maintain a roof over their head.
Aboriginal women in Canada are affected by HIV/AIDS at a higher rate than women of other ethnic groups. These higher rates are being linked to marginalization, gender, poverty, identity and colonization (Novak, 2006). Previous researchers have found that race, culture, gender, and ethnicity are important determinants of health, which are often interrelated (Jackson, Reimer, 2005). As well, the traditional role that Aboriginal women played in their communities has been altered since contact with Europeans. One of the contemporary results of this impact is that Aboriginal women are at greater risk for HIV, and are becoming infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS at alarming rates (Novak, 2006).
Aboriginal women who live within Aboriginal communities often continue to experience high-risk situations when they are trying to survive everyday life. .Poverty, addictions,
and prostitution is a part of many communities; these are high-risk activities that expose Aboriginal women to HIV/AIDS. Some Aboriginal women are exposed to these high-risk behaviours on a daily basis.
Women in Aboriginal communities often face abuse and violence from partners who are HIV-positive and refuse to wear protection. Poverty, lower education levels, poor housing, and the scars from the residential school years have resulted in more high-risk activities such as higher intravenous drug use in the Aboriginal community. Along with this, Aboriginal women experience low self-esteem, which sometimes leads to prostitution and abusive relationships, all of these put Aboriginal women at an extremely high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
Prevention
Services to Aboriginal people are complicated by racism, indifference, lack of understanding, homophobia and discrimination based on HIV status. Poverty and other factors contribute to the progression of illness and continue to plague efforts in providing care, treatment and support. A large number of Aboriginal people with HIV are living in sub-standard housing. Not even their most basic needs are being met. Aboriginal people with HIV have to deal with stigma within their communities. There is no standard of care for Aboriginals with HIV who tend to move frequently between urban centres and First Nations communities and who access services in both places (Deschamps, 1998).
HIV prevention strategies have traditionally focused on the interruption of the disease prior to infection. Recently, however, the need to investigate factors that increase or limit the spread of the virus in infected individuals has been identified (Statistics Canada, 2006). Interventions with persons living with HIV to decrease the spread of infection are an important primary prevention strategy (Jackson, Reimer, 2005) and also promote their health and well-being.
Despite recognition of the need for more effective strategies to prevent HIV
transmission in the period following infection, there has been limited research to document it became clear that their experiences were layered on individual and community histories characterized by trauma. Childhood experiences of abuse, poverty, discrimination, and
violence laid the foundation for high-risk lifestyles that provided a fertile environment
for HIV infection. The trauma continues, and the infection rate among Aboriginal people continues to be alarmingly high (Public Health Agency, 2007).
It is necessary to include socio-cultural factors in HIV prevention strategies.
Recognizing and addressing social issues (such as poverty and racism) need to be addressed in order to engage in effective HIV prevention. These programs and services should be sustainable and accountable by Aboriginal communities to ensure their relevance and continuation. Aboriginal people must be involved in every stage of the prevention programs, from recognizing their community’s vulnerability, to planning a suitable and effective program. Aside from being responsive to the unique health and social needs of Aboriginal peoples, prevention
programs should be comprehensive and accessible to the targeted community.
Culturally based techniques have already been established in some Aboriginal
communities. They include condom jewelry with traditional designs, elders discussing
safe sex with youth, and theatre productions to raise awareness (Jackson, Reimer, 2005).
Since Aboriginals in the Northwest Territory of Canada have a more oral tradition,
information on HIV/AIDS was delivered door to door, through radio broadcasts, public
speeches, and audiotapes (Jackson, Reimer, 2005).
The integration of traditional healers and Elders into prevention and treatment
programs for HIV positive Aboriginal individuals may ensure culturally safe care. While Aboriginal peoples are diverse in their perspectives on health, a culturally safe approach might include a holistic view of health that respects traditional views of illness and maintains the balance between the physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental aspects of health.
Several organizations have already been established with aims to improve Aboriginal
health information, develop research capacity, and inform public health policy with the
goal of improving health of Aboriginal peoples (Jackson, Reimer, 2005). Such
organizations include Healing Our Spirit, The Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Institute of Aboriginal People’s Health, Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, and The
National Native Health Association.
Conclusion
I would say there would still be a stigma about HIV and AIDS in the Aboriginal community, because of the lack of resources that are not there to provide the education and awareness to the youth, and to the general Aboriginal population as a whole. To stop the rising numbers of HIV-infected Aboriginal people, more resources need to be directed towards the people who are infected the most.
The HIV epidemic among Aboriginal peoples shows no signs of slowing down. Evidence suggests that injecting drug use is the most common mode of HIV transmission among Aboriginal peoples, and Aboriginal women make up a large part of the HIV epidemic in their communities. This indicates the different characteristics of the HIV epidemic among Aboriginal peoples and emphasizes the complexity of Canada's HIV epidemic. More complete information on the pattern of HIV/AIDS in Canada and HIV testing among Aboriginal peoples are needed to guide prevention and control strategies. In addition, it is vital to conduct research to increase our understanding of the impact of HIV on Aboriginal peoples.
The government, community organizations, and voluntary groups must initiate
programs of awareness, which must be based in Aboriginal communities. New, innovative
approaches are in demand if the AIDS pandemic is to be kept from destroying Aboriginal
communities.
As for now, the best cure we have for AIDS is education and risk reduction. Because AIDS can only be spread in a few ways, through educating our communities and our young people of the hidden dangers and consequences of catching this virus, we may be able to slow the toll of deaths and end this virus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CBC News. In Depth: AIDS. August 17, 2006. Aboriginal People: Canada’s Most Vulnerable Population. Retrieved May 20, 2010 from: http://
Deschamps, G. (1998). We are Part of a Tradition: A Guide on Two-Spirited People for
First Nations Communities. Retreived June 14, 2010 from:
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Health Canada Agency, (2010) First Nations, Inuit, and Aboriginal Health
Retrieved May 30, 2010 from: http://
Jackson R. and Reimer G. (2005). Canadian Aboriginal People Living With HIV/AIDS: Care, Treatment and Support Issues., a publication of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, Retrieved June 3, 2010 from: http://www.caan.ca/pdf/CAAN_CTS_English_Final.pdf
Novak, Myrrhanda. Capital News. First Nation Fight Aids: How Past Wounds Caused A Current Crisis. December 01, 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2010 from:
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Public Health Agency of Canada/PHAC, (2007). HIV/AIDS Among Aboriginal Persons in Canada: A Continuing Concern. Retrieved June 2, 2010, from: - aspc.gc.ca/aids-sida/publication/epi/pdf/epi2007_e.pdf
Statistics Canada (2006). Aboriginal Peoples in Canada in 2006: Inuit, Métis and First Nations, 2006 Census. Retrieved June 6, 2010 from: http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/analysis/aboriginal/children.cfm
Statistics Canada, (2008). Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada 2005 and 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2010 from: - eng.pdf