Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Arctic Bay (Mar 11/02) - Jimmy Enoogoo hopes the visit of a woman who carries a deadly virus inside her will help people in Arctic Bay protect themselves against dangerous sex.

Danielle Layman-Pleet toured classrooms at Inuujaq school during Arctic Bay's HIV/AIDS/HEP C fair on March 1. She shared her experiences as an HIV positive woman with the students.

Enoogoo said her words made him pay more attention to his own actions.

"I hope it's in the back of people's minds that if she can get it, they can get it. That touched me and woke me up right away," he said.

"I hope it did that for other people too."

Enoogoo says he's worried because the high rate of teen pregnancy in the North Baffin hamlet means there's a lot of unprotected sex taking place. That sort of risky behaviour can also cause sexual partners to contract HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS.

"There are people here who are careless," explained Enoogoo, 25.

"Teen pregnancy is really high up here. There are free condoms at the nursing station and they've been available for years, but people don't listen," he said.

"I hope that lady gets these teenagers' attention so they don't get HIV."

Layman-Fleet's talks, in conjunction with the annual HIV/AIDS fair, appear to have directly affected community residents. Community health nurse Joanne Dignard said in the last week alone, she'd seen more people at the health centre.

"We've had a few people come in for HIV tests because of it," said Dignard.

Student awareness on the rise

She praised the student's awareness fair for promoting understanding of HIV and AIDS in Arctic Bay and said these kinds of educational events lead to the prevention of disease.

"The more people hear about it, the better. It's good," said Dignard.

Todd Armstrong, senior advisor for HIV/AIDS programs at Pauktuutit Inuit Women's Association, said it was incredibly valuable for youth in Canada's 53 Inuit communities to meet young people living with HIV. The initiative brings people under the age of 27 into communities hosting HIV/AIDS fairs.

"Youth need to understand the impact of this," said Armstrong.

"The best way to do that is to be face to face with a real person living with HIV," he said.

The idea of HIV/AIDS fairs was started by a group of students at Inuksuk high school in Iqaluit. Armstrong said it was an innovative and positive way to educate people about the issue.

"By doing it this way, kids educate themselves. They do the research and recognize they have a role to play in educating people in their communities," he said.

Realizing the effect they can have also helps young people make their own healthy choices, preventing them from engaging in risky behaviour.

"There's strength in knowing the work you did impacts the entire community."

Inuit ideas help the world

Much like the science fairs held in schools around the country, the HIV/AIDS fairs require students to create projects around the issues. Prizes are awarded and the most effective messages are used in national awareness campaigns.

Armstrong said a poster from a Taloyoak student and a jigsaw puzzle from students at Aqsarniit school in Iqaluit would be launched for national use this week.

He added that the winning entries from this year's 13 participating communities would be sent to Panama and New Zealand to promote awareness among aboriginal people there.

Furthermore, a campaign featuring condoms with Arctic animals will be launched during the Arctic Winter Games in Iqaluit.

The idea is to help youth make healthy and informed choices.

Armstrong said there was a sense of urgency to the awareness campaigns given the increased mobility of Inuit and the increasing numbers of southerners living in the North.

"The risk in small communities of having an outbreak is so much bigger," said Armstrong.