How does HIV/AIDS affect British Columbians?
Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is plagued by rampant unemployment, substance abuse, prostitution, and homelessness, making it one of North America’s poorest neighbourhoods. The combination of the drug trade and the sex industry has led to HIV infection rates amongst the resident population that are the highest in all developed countries. Aboriginal peoples are particularly at risk of contracting HIV in British Columbia and a study published in the Canadian Medical Journal in 2003 found that aboriginal injection drug users were being infected with HIV at twice the rate experienced by other drug users in the Downtown Eastside . This problem of HIV infection within the aboriginal community is not just limited to Downtown Eastside inhabitants. Recent data released by a team of epidemiologists in BC indicates that 7.9% of aboriginal drug users in Prince George are infected with HIV (compared to 17% in Vancouver) . Physicians with the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS are worried that the
