Med­ical offi­cials are warn­ing of an AIDS epi­demic amongst abo­rig­i­nals in Canada. Some of them are com­par­ing it to the AIDS epi­demic in Africa. Some of the fac­tors are cer­tainly sim­i­lar, stig­mas against the vic­tims, and a lack of edu­ca­tion on the disease.

From this Reuters story that we found at ABC News, reporter Rod Nickel describes the spread of AIDS in Canada.

Many abo­rig­i­nals, a broad term that includes Indi­ans, Inuit and Metis, live in poverty and suf­fer poorer health than most other Cana­di­ans. They make up about 3.3 per­cent of the pop­u­la­tion, liv­ing mainly in west­ern cities, the North and on rural reserves.

Despite their rel­a­tively small pop­u­la­tion, abo­rig­i­nals accounted for almost one-quarter of Canada’s reported AIDS cases in 2006 for which eth­nic­ity was known, dou­ble the rate six years ear­lier, accord­ing to the Pub­lic Health Agency of Canada.

Intra­venous drug use, espe­cially among women, is the cause of more than half the infec­tions with the human immun­od­e­fi­ciency virus (HIV), which leads to AIDS. Cana­dian non-aboriginal infec­tions are mostly linked to unsafe sex.

Abo­rig­i­nals with HIV infec­tions also tend to be younger than other infected Cana­di­ans and more often women.

“(It’s) partly because of the vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties of that group — (espe­cially) if they’re addicted and depen­dent on the sex trade for their income,” said Dr. Moira McK­in­non, chief med­ical health offi­cer for Saskatchewan.

The rate of HIV infec­tion in Saskatchewan has risen rapidly among natives, McK­in­non said. The province of 1 mil­lion peo­ple, had 174 new HIV cases last year, up 40 per­cent from 2007. Sixty-five per­cent of the new cases were aboriginals.

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