Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Indigenous peoples experience disproportionately higher rates of sexually transmitted blood borne infections (STBBIs) compared with non-Indigenous Canadians. Specifically in Saskatchewan, the COVID-19 pandemic as shifted health-care workers and resources away from stopping the spread of other infectious diseases, including HIV, hepatitis C and syphilis. Linked to the ongoing effects of colonization, residential segregation creates the conditions that make it difficult for Indigenous peoples to adhere to healthy practices and accessing health services. Especially in reserve, remote, and rural communities, the lack of available health services become a significant batter to reducing incidence rates and fundamental determinants of STBBI inflections. The purpose of this research project is to gather a group of Indigenous STBBI activists, researchers, community leaders and elders to serve on a council that will guide the knowledge mobilization strategies of grants, projects, and program initiatives housed at All Nations Hope Network. This council will develop a research implementation strategy that is rooted in Indigenous knowledge, GIPA principles and OCAP principles within a Saskatchewan context. Our goals are to create an expanded culture-based model of GIPA relevant to Indigenous peoples, evaluate how GIPA impacts APHA health and wellbeing, identify priority health concerns for Indigenous peoples living with STBBI in Saskatchewan; and discuss best practices for knowledge mobilization that aligns with Indigenous perspectives of health and wellbeing. Our goal for this grant application is to plan future research to examine the Indigenization of GIPA principles as it applies to STBBI knowledge mobilization in Saskatchewan.