Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Conference Focuses On Women

Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Conference Focuses On Women

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 12:20

 

 

People from across the province are meeting in Regina to learn about HIV/AIDS.

 

This year, the three-day Aboriginal HIV/AIDS and HCV Conference is focusing on women living with the disease and the issues they face.

 

Lana Bear, a member of the Muskoday First Nation, is attending the conference to learn more about the disease and to meet people who have it.

 

Bear says she wants to take what she learns back to her community.

 

“I just came to see if I can learn more about it, because I’ve been living with HIV since 2006. So I’m here to learn more about the people that have it, that have to live with it, and share their stories and hear their stories and learn from it, and take it back, to see if I can help the community and our younger people,” she says.

 

Providing the most up-to-date information about HIV/AIDS is the goal of the conference, according to Margaret Akan.

 

Akan is the head of the All Nations Hope AIDS Network, the organization that put on the conference.

 

She says sharing information with people living with HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C will make a difference.

 

“There’s programs and services that are making a difference, so we just keep carrying on from conference to conference, and that’s our goal — to continually come with the latest trends, the latest tools and the latest information that we can share with the communities,” Akan says.

 

Workshops on today’s agenda include healing sessions, sharing circles, and information about pregnancy and HIV.