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Tubercolosis - a serious threat among Canada's Inuit peoples
last update: Mar 12, 2010 09:51 AM
From a "Saama TV" article: Tuberculosis infection is ravaging Canada's Arctic with infections among Inuit peoples having doubled since 2004, a rate which is 185 times higher than non-natives.
Gail Turner of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami said that the situation for northern natives is worsening as they lack a natural resistance to the disease when it was introduced in the mid-20th century. She told AFP "Behind the high results are significant disparities in the health of Inuit and other Canadians and inequity in access to health care. It is unconscionable that these conditions exist in a country that boasts of having one of the lowest TB rates in the world."
"Tuberculosis is challenging because there's a perception that it's gone," Turner explained. Tuberculosis cases are declining in the general population, but rates have soared among Canada's 50,000 Inuit from 80.4 to 157.5 between 2004 and 2008 with the number of new Inuit cases doubling from 41 to 88.
The problem is that in Canada's far north, small communities are spread across a vast, desolate region. The desease could flourish partly due to poor nutrition, inadequate housing and difficult access to health care.
Turner said that only one hospital in Iqaluit serves all 26 remote communities in the Nunavut territory, which is almost four times the size of France or the US state of Texas. And it is inadequately staffed.
The disease is generally easy to treat, if diagnosed early, but these unique challenges "make it harder to fix," she said.
Read more:
SAAMA TV, 11th March 2010
