First Nations Canadians are three times more likely to contract HIV than are other Canadians. This is a sad fact, and Canada’s First Nations need the support and recognition of this reality in order to tackle the problem.
At a session this afternoon focusing on indigenous people facing HIV/AIDS, one Inuit woman spoke about Pauktuutit, a twenty-year-old non-governmental organization that represents women in Canada. As a bonus, the group includes young women on its board. The organization focuses their efforts on creating programs in the areas of family violence and abuse, residential schools, and sexual health, among other things.
Inuit communities in Canada have high rates of STIs as well as teen pregnancy, indicating that unprotected sex is common and this increases the risk of contracting HIV. A great challenge that faces Inuit communities lies in the fact that community health centres are not places where someone can go to for anonymous testing, since they are staffed by family and friends. The shortage of resource workers means that doctors and nurses have a high burnout rate, leaving much to be desired from the health system.
However gloomy that all may sound, there is great promise for the future. Currently the Nunavut government is working on a sexual health strategy, and will hopefully be able to provide culturally-specific programming for the proud Inuit people and their communities.