Grant: Operating Grant

Reasons for increased vulnerability to HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) among young Aboriginal people who use illicit drugs are not understood well and most information is limited to urban centres such as Vancouver's downtown eastside. First Nations leadership and Aboriginal HIV/AIDS service organizations in BC are deeply concerned about increasing rates of HIV and HCV infections among their youth and the lack of understanding about why this is occurring in rural and remote locations, including on reserves. The Cedar Project is a community-based and Aboriginal-governed research program located in Prince George, a forestry and mining town in the northern interior of British Columbia; in Chase, a forestry and tourism municipality in south-central BC; and in Vancouver's downtown eastside. The aim of Cedar is to study HIV and HCV related vulnerabilities of Aboriginal young people, aged 14 to 30 years who use injection or non-injection drugs. Since the study's beginning, Aboriginal collaborators and investigators, collectively known as the Cedar Project Partnership, have governed the entire research and knowledge translation process. Together with the Cedar Project partnership, we now propose to: 1) broaden the study to include Aboriginal youth in Chase; 2) implement a surveillance initiative for sexually transmitted infections; 3) explore what helps and what hinders these youth entering into successful addiction treatment; and 4) test whether using mobile phone technology can help prevent HIV and HCV and improve health outcomes in these vulnerable young people.