Studies track impact of racism on Indigenous health

published on June 21, 2018 in SFU

Research led by SFU health sciences associate professor Angela Kaida shows that women living with HIV who experience high levels of racism are less likely to be engaged in HIV care.

The study involved more than 1,400 women across Canada and is published this week in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS).

“Experiences of racial discrimination account for a very significant loss from HIV care, but we observed no such relationship when we looked specifically at ethnic identity,” says Kaida, an associate professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences and associate researcher at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE). The study was led by SFU, BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, and the BC-CfE.

“These findings show that it is not that Indigenous women, for example, are somehow ‘at risk’ of attrition from care because they are Indigenous. Rather, the environments in which they live, interact with daily and seek care, shape their engagement across the HIV care cascade.”

The highest levels of everyday racial discrimination were reported by those who identified as Indigenous, taken from measurements on a eight-point scale asking women how often they experienced racism, such as being treated with less courtesy or receiving poorer service because of their race.

“There is ever growing evidence regarding the negative effects of racism and discrimination on health outcomes for women, including women living with HIV," says Kaida. “The findings of our study re-inforce calls for culturally-competent HIV care for women living with HIV in Canada. Working with Indigenous women living with HIV in the planning and delivery of such care is essential."

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Studies track impact of racism on Indigenous health

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