Manitoba Region
Nine Circles, Manitoba First Nations AIDS Working Group (MFNAWG)
Indigenous communities
Indigenous communities
The purpose of this initiative is to build the foundation for innovations in HIV and STBBIs testing, linkage and care in rural and remote areas of Manitoba. This is a developmental project, funded for one year, that uses a number of promising emerging practices.
There is a strong desire to support innovative testing and linkage to care strategies in rural and remote communities. This project is bringing Indigenous and Non-Indigenous partners together in a two-eyed seeing way for the development of a peer navigator program, an event-based testing toolkit, and to introduce innovative testing methodologies to support increased testing and linkage to care for rural, remote and First Nations communities in Manitoba.
Through this project we are building important relationships with the Manitoba First Nations AIDS Awareness Working Group. The mandate of the group is to aim to prevent the transmission and spread of HIV/AIDS among First Nations people of Manitoba and to establish linkages with existing First Nations training and educational institutions to facilitate the incorporation of HIV/AIDS programs into their health curriculum and activities.
We hosted a gathering with Manitoba First Nations AIDS Awareness health leaders to discuss barriers and facilitators facing First Nation communities in Manitoba.
We have begun the development of the event-based testing toolkit. By working together with the MFNAWG (Manitoba First Nation AIDS Working Group) and other Winnipeg and Manitoba-based practitioners and policy makers in a two-eyed seeing way on the development of the event-based testing guide and the peer navigators program, we will work toward better testing, care and outcomes for First Nations people living with HIV in Manitoba.