By Guest Contributor

National Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week 2015

Nov 5, 2015 | 8:22 AM

Leaders unite across Canada with community-based approaches to HIV and AIDS.

The Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) proudly announces national Aboriginal leadership and their supporters will gather in Calgary, AB on December 1, 2015 to launch Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week 2015. It will be accompanied by workshops across the country (Ottawa, Regina, Montreal, Winnipeg, Halifax, and Inuvik) to continue discussions on Aboriginal HIV and AIDS issues in Canada on November 30, December 2 – 5, 2015.

Every 3 hours a person is infected with HIV in Canada. 12% of those are Aboriginal people, even though they represent only 4% of the Canadian population. First Nations, Métis, and Inuit continue to respond to HIV and AIDS with community-based initiatives, but are still over-represented and experiencing epidemic proportions 3.6 times higher than other Canadians.

Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week 2015 will connect national Aboriginal organizations, government  partners, health care providers, and community leaders to focus on how they will work together to reach the goal of: Getting to Zero. Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths.

“Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week will be done a justice by closing the gap amongst Aboriginal people who live with HIV and AIDS, and by Aboriginal people getting tested so that they may know their status,” stated CEO of CAAN, Ken Clement. “Creating community readiness and culturally safe approaches to testing, treatment, and support is the roadmap for the journey to zero.”

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This series of events across Canada will provide a forum for reflection: on what has been achieved with regard to the Aboriginal communities’ response to HIV, what must still be achieved, and how to get to zero. The December 1 luncheon will include a special focus on Aboriginal People Living with HIV/AIDS and Métis, while the workshops will highlight women, youth, Inuit, and international HIV and AIDS developments.

CAAN and it’s co-hosts, Shining Mountains, Kimamanow Atoskano Foundation, and HIV Network of Edmonton Society, invite you to participate in Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week as it reaches across all barriers to create a unified approach to combat Aboriginal HIV and AIDS in Canada:

Where: Calgary Festival Hall, 1215 – 10 Avenue SE, Calgary, AB

When: December 1, 2015, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm MST
RSVP: By November 26, 2015 at www.bit.ly/aaaw2015launchrsvp

by Guest Contributor

National Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week 2015

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