Advocacy and Public Health Headlines

Opioid Stats Needed for Indigenous Communities

Missing from information and discussion on the national opioid crisis is specific data on how the crisis is affecting people of Indigenous heritage. Earlier this summer, BC’s First Nations Health Authority produced Overdose Data and First Nations in BC: Preliminary Findings, but this is hardly the case across the country. A September 16 piece on CBC looked at the issue and found national stats lacking, and Ontario regional Chief Isadore Day calls it “a tragic emergency.”

 

HIV and Aging Awareness

September 18 was National HIV and Aging Awareness Day, led by the AIDS Institute in the US. This year’s theme was “Together we can age without HIV“.  To see what was shared by all kinds of groups, head onto Twitter and plug #NHAAAD into search window. No Twitter account is required to do a search.

 

Criminalization of HIV

Two pieces on HIV criminalization were circulating last week. The Star headlined: Ontario a ‘world leader’ in unjustly prosecuting people living with HIV, advocates say. It was published a few days before Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould’s meeting in BC to talk about the application of criminal law in regards to HIV non-disclosure.

Read the release from the two-day meeting.

 

Funding Shifts

Valerie Nicholson, a member of PAN’s Positive Leadership Development Institute training team, was quoted in an article about funding for HIV support service organizations.  Valerie spoke about the closure of Positive Women’s Network (PWN), and the impact on women with HIV. PWN was one of a number of organizations in BC and across the country impacted by shifts in federal funding.

 

 

Questions? Feedback? Get in touch! 
Janet Madsen, Capacity Building and Knowledge Translation Coordinator,
[email protected]
 

 

 

 

 

Image: Pixabay