The rise in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among Indigenous people in Saskatchewan and Manitoba is to be addressed by a new $2.9-million Indigenous-led research centre to close gaps in prevention and care.
First Nations researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) have been awarded a $2.84-million federal grant over five years from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to establish an Indigenous-led centre in the region. The location of the centre will be determined by the researchers and members of Indigenous communities.
"This centre will provide the much-needed infrastructure to leverage the Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, clinicians, government, and community to work together to address the rise in HIV," said lead investigator Dr. Alexandra King (MD) of the USask College of Medicine.
Almost 80 per cent of new HIV cases in Saskatchewan the province with the highest rates of HIV in Canada are among indigenous people. With 2,091 cases reported between 1985 and 2016, the number of new HIV cases in Saskatchewan is almost triple the national average. There are also high rates of HIV transmission in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
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