AIDS major threat to First Nations

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The First Nations could be at a greater risk from acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, than the rest of Canada, a recent study indicates.

The Ontario First Nations AIDS and Healthy Lifestyles Survey, released last January, estimates as many as one on-reserve Native out of every 212 in Ontario could test positive for human immunodefiency virus, HIV, the disease which is believed to cause AIDS.

"We had people saying AIDS was not a First Nations disease, it's a white man's disease," University of Toronto professor Dr. Ted Myers said. "I think that has played a considerable role."

The year-and-a-half long study found the rate of HIV infection in six Native northern Ontario communities to be five times higher than the national average. A 1991 study of high-risk First Nations people in Vancouver also found the same HIV infection rates.

The virus could spread rapidly through remote First Nations communities as long as AIDS awareness remains low and people don't take precautions during sex, said Myers.

Part of the problem lies in the attitudes of many Natives towards sex, he said. Many First Nations people do not practise safe sex during intercourse, as evidenced by

the high rate of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy on reserves.

"There are sexually transmitted diseases, there are many out-of-wedlock mothers or single women becoming pregnant," he said.

The rate on reserves is two to three times higher than the Canadian average, said Feather of Hope Aboriginal AIDS Prevention Society chairperson Marlene Poitras.

"If a person is carrying an STD and practising unsafe sex, then they are at more risk of spreading AIDS."

Lack of understanding is also a concern, she said.

"Many see it as a homosexual disease. Or they think, 'If I don't do drugs, it's not a problem'. The education is out there. What is happening is that people are aware of the implications but are not taking precautions."

The society was founded in 1990 to help educate Natives about AIDS, Poitras said. None of the 20 HIV positive Natives who now come to the Edmonton-based society for assistance ever believed they could contract the virus.

There are currently 26 Natives in Canada who have developed the syndrome to its final and terminal stage.

Reserve life poses an additional HIV-related threat to Indians because rampant Third World-type living conditions compromise health and consequently the ability to fight off diseases, Myers said.

Only half of the bands approached for the Ontario study agreed to participate, he said, a reflection of the attitude that AIDS is still not an issue for Natives.

Although many communities have held presentations on the spread and prevention of HIV, there is still a large segment of the Native community that needs to be informed, Myers said. His study found that up to 70 per cent of people aged 20 to 39 had unprotected sex within a year of the study.

National statistics indicate heterosexual women are becoming infected at the fastest rate in Canada and that they are more likely to contract the virus from a man than vice versa.

A high proportion of males in the Ontario study, almost 40 per cent, said they did not practise safe sex because they did not have the virus. The most common reason given by females, almost 75 per cent, was that they were with their "steady sexual partner."

Seven per cent of participants who had heard of AIDS said they had been tested.