The Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (CANAC) wrapped up their conference this weekend in Regina. I would have loved to be there, as one of the features of the conference was a presentation by Irene Goldstone and Marilou Gagnon on how nurses have led the way on implementing harm reduction. CANAC makes a clear statement on harm reduction, recognizing “Inequities in access to health care are prevalent for those who use drugs, and that these disparities are further exacerbated by the social determinants of health.”
Regina was a logical spot for the conference: Saskatchewan continues to see new HIV cases at twice the rate of the national average. Dr. Alexander Wong says that people who inject drugs are being significantly affected, which is a switch from BC, where men who have sex with men represent the largest group of new infections.
Saskatchewan’s struggle with HIV rates has been going on for a number of years. According to the 2015 HIV-AIDS annual report (summary infographic), 81% of newly diagnosed people identified as Aboriginal, and injection drug use was reported in 61% of the cases. If injection drug use is a significant route of transmission, what’s the status of safe injection services? Prince Albert is moving closer to safe injection, and Saskatoon advocates are calling for the same, saying that BC evidence shows they work.
The bigger picture is that harm reduction and other support services are needed together. Last month Federal health minister Jane Philpott announced funding for the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research, where “The centre’s two primary focuses will be mental health and addiction, and health issues facing Indigenous Canadians.” Here in BC, the First Nations Health Authority in BC knows the need for intersecting services, and combines mental wellness and substance use in resources, recognizing the impact of colonialism on both of these determinants of health.
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network recently published a new resource, Harm Reduction Services for Indigenous People Who Use Drugs: Questions and Answers. The introduction acknowledges that “Indigenous people can have difficult access to health care and higher rates of injection drug use than non-Indigenous people.”
The complicated tangle of histories of trauma, mental health, access to health care, substance use, HIV and HCV affect many people, and Indigenous people especially. PAN will continue to work with member organizations to identify needs and resources for their agencies, and speak about the bigger picture of health and harm reduction.
See our resource page for more information:
Drug Use and Overdose Response
Additional Resources:
HIV/AIDS Reports, Saskatchewan, Government of Saskatchewan
Annual Summaries of Reportable Diseases, BC Centre for Disease Control
HIV/AIDS Report, BC Centre for Disease Control
Questions? Feedback? Get in touch!
Janet Madsen, Capacity Building and Knowledge Translation Coordinator, [email protected]