HIV rate in Sask. brought to light

OTTAWA Canada, and Saskatchewan in particular, will be in the global spotlight this weekend in Durban, South Africa, as it gears up for the 21st International AIDS Conference — but the glare won’t be flattering.

The conference will hear that Canada’s indigenous populations are experiencing sky-high HIV numbers — and the province of Saskatchewan alone has an infection rate comparable to countries in the developing world.

Saskatchewan’s annual report for 2014, released late last year, found aboriginal people in the province continue to make up the majority of new cases.

Between 2008 and 2012, an average of 140 aboriginals in Saskatchewan were diagnosed with HIV each year. In 2014, the final number was 79 — 44 per cent lower than the 2012 average, but still 71 per cent of all new diagnoses.

In other words, for every 10 people diagnosed, seven were indigenous.

The number of aboriginals in Saskatchewan living with HIV is around twice the national average and the highest in Canada, said Dr. Denise Werker, the province’s deputy chief medical health officer.

Even as the rest of the world educates its way toward health, the infection rates in Saskatchewan’s indigenous communities — especially in rural areas — remain stubbornly high because of a lack of adequate services, said Dr. Stuart Skinner, an infectious disease specialist with the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region.

Skinner links the problem to needles and drug use, as well as deepseated mental health problems.

“A lot of that has to do with addictions and mental health services,” he said. “Going more into treatment, a lot of those relate to residential school, trauma and poverty.”

The Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network says indigenous communities in rural Saskatchewan are experiencing rates among the highest in the world. The network produced a documentary that highlights some of those communities and how they are tackling the issues with culturally appropriate practices.

The film will be premiered later this week at the International Indigenous AIDS pre-conference on HIV and AIDS in Durban, South Africa, where speakers include federal Health Minister Jane Philpott and Dr. Luiz Loures, the deputy executive director of United Nations AIDS (UN AIDS).

Trevor Stratton, the UN AIDS delegate for North America who helped organize the conference, said policy-makers need to look at jurisdictional barriers to health care services within Canada.