Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

This initiative addresses Sexually Transmitted and Blood Borne Infection (STBBI) and HIV prevention, treatment, and management with Indigenous women in Canada. Within Indigenous populations, affected by intersecting forces of sexism, colonization, and racism, Indigenous women are especially vulnerable to HIV/STBBI incidence. National HIV estimates show that in 2018, Indigenous Peoples accounted for 4.9% of the Canadian population but 14% of new HIV diagnoses with known ethnicity. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Canadian HIV Trials Network (CTN) hosted a working group co-led by Indigenous community-based researchers and Indigenous women to explore their HIV/STBBI prevention needs at the semi-annual Spring 2023 CTN meeting. At the meeting, Indigenous women heard from CTN Investigators who shared their work and gathered feedback on their research. The Indigenous women participants suggested several directions for research, all of which involved significant and ongoing consultation with diverse Indigenous women. To build on the collaborative partnerships fostered at the Spring meeting, and to continue to consult with diverse groups of Indigenous women, begin to build trust, and identify their HIV/STBBI prevention needs, we will hold a day-long Indigenous women's HIV/STBBI prevention meeting. The meeting will include ceremony and Elder wisdom and is planned for the Fall 2023 CTN meeting in Montreal. At the meeting, we will consult with Indigenous women about their HIV/STBBI prevention needs, the ways they are or are not being met, and what research they believe needs to be conducted. Drawing from insights from this meeting, we plan to apply for a CIHR Community-Based Research Catalyst Grant to continue to identify and refine key research priorities in partnership with Indigenous women. Our longer-term aim is to establish a regular working group for Indigenous women's STBBI prevention research that would regularly guide CIHR-funded research in Canada.