| AIDS surging among Canadian aboriginals as Ottawa helps developing countries at 18:01 on May 13, 2004, EST. |
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MONTREAL (CP) - While Canada leads the global fight against AIDS, the virus remains a dangerous threat at home, especially in the aboriginal community, researchers and activists said Thursday. "In some spots across the country, it is almost like African-level prevalence rates," said Kevin Barlow, executive director of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network. More than 26 per cent of the roughly 4,000 new HIV cases detected every year are among Canada's native population, he said. Yet aboriginals comprise just 3.3 per cent of the Canadian population. Health Canada estimated that 56,000 Canadians were living with HIV/AIDS in 2002. Injection drug use, brought on by poverty and the effects of the residential school system, accounts for two-thirds of the mode of infection among natives, Barlow said from Ottawa. "Indigenous populations across the world have experienced very similar issues around colonialism, domination so that they've struggled and end up with the same socio-economic conditions." Dr. Mark Wainberg, chairman of the four-day Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research, which began Thursday, said much more needs to be done to avert the further spread of the disease, especially among native youth. "In some ways, they have got lost in the shuffle," he said. About 750 Canadian researchers are gathering for the 13th annual conference to discuss the latest collaborative projects, treatment advances and prevention research. Their mood has been brightened by recent boosts of federal funding in Canada and abroad, said Wainberg. Prime Minister Paul Martin's government announced $170 million in funding this week for two AIDS projects to help those infected in developing countries. The announcements won high praise from rocker Bono. "One of the things we also want is for the domestic agenda, which Bono has not addressed, to not get neglected in the shuffle," Wainberg said in an interview. Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew said assistance to domestic organizations battling the disease will double to $84.4 million annually over five years. A Commons health committee recommended last year that $100 million be earmarked for a national AIDS strategy. A total of $5 million was recommended for native efforts. But double that sum is required to halt what will become a crisis as those infected with HIV become sick with AIDS, said Barlow. Researchers also want the government to provide $5 million annually to fund collaborative projects with colleagues in developing countries. The United States spends more than $200 million annually on these efforts. France and Holland also participate. With a vaccine decades away, prevention remains the cornerstone for stemming HIV infection rates, said Wainberg, who is also head of McGill University's AIDS Centre. Among the messages that should be stressed is abstinence among young teens, he said. "Safe sex is inappropriate if you're 12, 13 or 14 years old. The only thing that's appropriate at 14 years of age is no sex." Wainberg added that success in developing new drugs has spawned safe-sex fatigue. A growing number of youngsters believe they'll just take drugs if they become infected with HIV. "And that's just stupid thinking because nobody wants to be a slave to these drugs." Despite treatment advances, anti-viral drugs produce side-effects, become resistant over time and cost an average of $12,000 a year. Developing a vaccine could be at least 25 years away because the virus mutates so quickly and has so many strains around the world. "Nobody has a right to promise that we're going to have an HIV vaccine ever," said Wainberg. ROSS MAROWITS |
� The Canadian Press, 2003 |
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