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Aboriginal People in Manitoba 2000 Chapter 2 : Health

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disease “is a preventable, chronic and progressive condition, of which AIDS is the final phase. AIDS is characterized by the appearance of opportunistic infections and other life-threatening conditions that take advantage of an immune system weakened by HIV. HIV is transmitted primarily by unprotected sexual intercourse and shared needles and/or syringes.”¹⁶ From 1985, when a test to identify antibodies to the HIV virus was first developed, to June 1997, 588 Manitobans were known to have been infected by HIV, of whom 116 had died.¹⁷ The real numbers of HIV carriers is unknown as the disease is asymptomatic in its early stages.

Aboriginal people are over-represented in groups at high risk for HIV infection, including intravenous drug users, sex trade workers, and inmates. A 1999 report indicated that 30% of recent HIV cases in Manitoba are Aboriginal, and that this proportion is increasing. Similar statistics have been reported in Saskatchewan (30%), Alberta (26%) and British Columbia (15%).¹⁸

National figures compiled by the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control suggest that injection drug use accounts for a higher proportion of HIV infection in Aboriginal people than in the general population: 18% versus 3% for men, and 54% versus 17% for women. Women account for higher numbers of HIV cases among the Aboriginal population, 15% versus 7.0% among non-Aboriginal cases.¹⁹