State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous peoples face a higher vulnerability to HIV due to a range of factors including stigmatization, structural racism and discrimination and individual/community disempowerment. Health Canada in collaboration with UNAIDS and Public Health Agency Canada hosted an International policy dialogue on HIV/AIDS and indigenous peoples. This dialogue provided a platform to discuss the impact of HIV/AIDS on indigenous peoples and to explore a way forward in terms of research, policy and program development. Report findings of the dialogue included: ɜɜ R elationship between HIV/AIDS and indigenous peoples has not received due international attention despite them being vulnerable; ɜɜ I t clearly identified patterns of transmission for indigenous men and women including a higher proportion of new HIV diagnoses among indigenous peoples; ɜɜ I t noted high rates of HIV transmission among indigenous women, particularly in developing countries; ɜɜ I t noted a younger age of HIV infection of indigenous peoples compared with the nonindigenous population in some countries. As a result of the above, the participants: ɜɜ Called for the identification of indigenous peoples as a priority group; ɜɜ Called for countries to develop national strategies for HIV and indigenous peoples; ɜɜ A dvocated for AIDS service organizations to develop culturally appropriate services for indigenous peoples in partnership with indigenous communities’ representatives; ɜɜ Noted how indigenous people are often invisible in reported statistics; ɜɜ D iscussed how best to leverage international policy instruments, such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of indigenous peoples (UNDRIP) and ILO Convention 169; ɜɜ W elcomed the creation of the International indigenous peoples Working Group on HIV/ AIDS (IIHAWG).
Traditional medicine Traditional medicine is the sum total of knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences used by indigenous peoples or different cultures to maintain health and prevent, diagnose and improve or treat physical and mental illness.45 Africans have relied on traditional medicine for generations before the advent of western medicine. The art was passed from generation to generation and sometimes from father to son. In Africa the cause of disease is not perceived in the same way as western medicine. Causes of illness and death are rooted in beliefs of witchcraft, sorcery and superhuman forces.46
45
WHO 2002, Traditional Medicine Strategy 2002-2005.
46
Rödlach, A. (2006). Witches, Westerners, and HIV: AIDS and Cultures of Blame in Africa. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press pp. 101-104.
022 ξ Chapter 1