Kookums in the Prince Albert area are being encouraged to talk about sexual health with their loved ones.
Donna Lerat works for the Prince Albert Metis Women’s association and is hosting an education session on HIV/AIDS tomorrow.
She says that in 2011 the Prince Albert Parkland Health region recorded 55 new cases of HIV/Aids in the region.
Of that number — 60% were aboriginal women.
Lerat says those numbers are high and they underscore the need to open up healthy dialogues between family members about the disease:
“What I’ve been saying for many years now is that it’s going to take us as Kookums and as Mothers to teach and we can’t leave it up to the shows on TV to teach our children how to take care of themselves and to protect themselves. This is where we’re coming from.”
Lerat recently began travelling around with a registered nurse to raise awareness about the issue.
She says she talks to residents while the nurse carries out testing.