Regina man struggles with HIV-positive status
Conference focuses on HIV epidemic in First Nations community
It's World AIDS Day and a Regina conference is focusing on the HIV epidemic in the First Nations community — a community that includes Brian Campbell.
Yes, I created this world that I live in, but yet society plays a big part in how I became who I became.- Brian Campbell
The HIV rate on Saskatchewan's First Nation reserves is 11 times the national average, according to numbers from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Among those living with the virus is Campbell, 54, of Regina who says he contracted HIV after years of intravenous needle use.
He now has full-blown AIDS and suffers from weight loss, frequent flus and is worried about contracting pneumonia.
"Yes, I created this world that I live in, but yet society plays a big part in how I became who I became," Campbell told CBC News.
He noted he has had many friends who died after contracting the virus.
"I lost a lot of people," Campbell said. "Y'know, they're all dying unnatural deaths."
The two-day Saskatchewan Indigenous HIV conference (Restoration of Kinship) at the Ramada Plaza wraps up on Wednesday.
with files from Dean Gutheil