Regina HIV research a Canadian first
As the results of a new survey were released, giving a snapshot of HIV among aboriginal people in Regina, Darryl Caldwell sat listening at the back of the room.
The 45-year-old Regina man is one of the faces behind the numbers.
Two years ago, Caldwell went for what he thought would be some routine blood tests. Then he got a call to see his doctor. “I thought right away ah, cancer,” he recalled during an interview Thursday.
But Caldwell instead learned he was HIV positive.
“I went numb. It was like my soul left my body.” Caldwell was at first suicidal, but within a couple of months grew determined to turn a negative into a positive. “I turned my life around ... to be a role model, to be an example, to educate people on this HIV.
“I found out it’s not a death sentence anymore,” said Caldwell, who added he’s now on a “healing journey,” with his disease under control through the help of medication, diet, culture, spirituality and a positive outlook.
Now an advocate and educator, Caldwell does what he calls empowerment workshops to bring awareness, address some of the stigmas and misconceptions, and press the need to get tested.
Among the results of the pilot A-Track survey, 54 individuals tested positive for HIV — and 25 of those people had no idea of their status.
“Get tested, because a quarter of the people out there don’t even know they have it,” Caldwell said.
He noted that late last year, when the province released its most recent statistics on HIV rates, it indicated there were 186 newly diagnosed cases in 2011 in Saskatchewan — twice the national average — with 81 per cent of those aboriginal people.
“It’s good that this (new) study is here because it’s focused on our people. I’m glad to see that people care,” Caldwell said.
The A-Track survey, released publicly at a Regina news conference, is the first in Canada to examine such issues as HIV prevention, testing and care, and sexual and drug use indicators among aboriginal people.
Between Dec. 5, 2011, and June 15, 2012, in Regina, trained interviewers completed questionnaires with 1,064 self-identified aboriginal and Metis participants, aged 16 to 60.
“It gives us an indication of the kind of information that we’ll be able to gather as we continue to roll this study out across the country in the coming years,” Renee Masching, director of research and policy with the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, said.
Dr. Maurice Hennink, deputy medical health officer for the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region, said the results have a practical application when it comes to informing strategies for everything from improving testing to providing support for harm reduction programs, such as needle exchanges.
Margaret Poitras, executive director of All Nations Hope AIDS Network, said the survey points to the need for services, programs, policies and future research to help find solutions.
“The aboriginal community has ownership of this. We want to take and move it forward and bring life to the people,” she said.
“It’s not just HIV — it’s a multitude of other health and social conditions that are impacting the aboriginal people in this city,” she said.
Five per cent of the 1,045 respondents who agreed to a finger-prick blood sample tested HIV-positive.
The 25 people who were unaware of their positive status may still not know because the survey was anonymous.
Hennink said on-site testing and counselling services were made available to the participants if they wanted to have further testing done and get the results.
No tracking was done to see how many took advantage of that offer.
But testing is key because it allows people to connect with services and treatment, enhancing life expectancy and quality of life, he said.