Positive Approaches to Stigma

Text by: Phoebe Yu
Edited by: Vancouver Media Co-op Editorial Team
Published: February 21, 2013, The Dominion

VANCOUVER—In 2003, when her lungs almost collapsed from an AIDS-related pneumonia—a near-death experience she would never forget— Lyanna Storm swore to turn her life around if she survived. Storm is an HIV-positive Aboriginal woman who is currently a peer support worker for the Towards Aboriginal Health and Healing (TAHAH) program, which serves the Vancouver area and is designed to bring a holistic approach to HIV prevention, care and treatment to Aboriginal people who are not otherwise accessing care or treatment.

Rates of HIV infection among women have been on the rise in Canada in the past decade, and Aboriginal women in particular are statistically over-represented among those who have contracted the virus. According to 2008 data from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the latest figures available, Aboriginal women make up 29 per cent of all reported AIDS cases among Aboriginal people. Outside the Aboriginal population, women make up 9.1 per cent of the reported AIDS cases.

Currently, a number of community-based organizations have recognized that personal histories and socio-economic conditions are factors to consider when providing care to Aboriginal women with HIV/AIDS, and are taking steps to bring culturally-sensitive programs and peer-to-peer support to these women. Leah Sinal, case manager for TAHAH, which operates out of the Vancouver Native Health Society, said that the program was set up with the understanding that Aboriginal men and women with HIV/AIDS weren’t accessing primary health care services. It’s an initiative founded on experiential knowledge...Read more