Health Watch - June 2014

Indigenous people in Toronto may face premature death

Researchers at Anishnawbe Health Toronto found the city’s Aboriginal population that visited Indigenous health centres in Toronto between 2008 and 2010 died much younger than other city residents. According to the study, the average age of death for those residents was 37 years old. Toronto Public Health says the average age of death for other city residents is 75 years old. To collect the data for the report, premature death records at Anishnawbe Health and three other health and social service centres in Toronto were reviewed and family members of some of the deceased interviewed. In total, 109 medical charts were reviewed and 20 interviews conducted. Dr. Chandrakant Shah, one of the authors of the report, says in the cases he examined, the cause of death was commonly tied to issues arising from homelessness, physical abuse, and/or substance abuse. A typical medical chart showed factors such as diabetes, obesity, anxiety, depression and chronic stress also played a role. Shah found that many of the Indigenous people who had died prematurely in Toronto had attended a residential school and others had been part of the Sixties Scoop.

According to Health Canada’s Inuit Oral Health Survey, more than 85 per cent of Inuit preschoolers have on average roughly eight teeth that are decayed, missing, or filled. This prevalence increases with age. The Inuit Oral Health Action Plan engages multiple stakeholders to address the high rates of oral disease among Inuit and to identify a collaborative approach to addressing the underlying determinants of poor oral health with a focus on prevention, mobilization of families, and better access to treatment. During the summer of 2013, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami sent out Inuit-specific oral health promotion kits to all Inuit communities in partnership with the four Inuit Land Claim Organizations, which incorporated messaging from the Canadian Dental Association adapted for Inuit and printed in four languages. The kits, contained in water bottles, included oral health sundries along with prevention messaging delivered in the Inuit languages. Positive results have begun to be seen and the work continues. “Efforts such as these, focused on oral health promotion and community-based primary preventive measures, will have a long-term positive impact on the health of the Inuit,” said Dr. Peter Cooney, Chief Dental Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada, in a news release.

The Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) in partnership with Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada and the Attendance Project at BC Centre of Disease Control have signed a memorandum of understanding to create an annual event in May and work together to raise awareness of hepatitis C in the Aboriginal community. The estimated infection rates for hepatitis C are higher among Inuit and First Nations (one to 18 per cent) compared to other the Canadians (0.5 to two per cent). Individuals living with hepatitis C may become isolated due to the stigma associated with the illness. Social and community support plays an important role in helping individuals to accept their diagnosis and learn to live with hepatitis C. The partners have developed culturally relevant resources for front-line health and social service providers and support creating change in urban, rural, isolated, and on-reserve communities. “Practicing our Aboriginal values of respect, honour, and non-judgment toward others is key to our response – and this year we asked all communities to become informed and lead the change,” said Ken Clement, CEO of CAAN, in a news release.

Indigenous health practitioners have a new home at the University of British Columbia. The UBC Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health, which opened at the start of this year, will serve as a single point of contact within the university for support, training and resources for Indigenous health. It will also be the primary conduit for Indigenous communities that want to connect with UBC, its programs and health researchers. “We want to increase the research capacity in Indigenous health and to empower community members to do their own research, setting their own priorities,” said CEIH co-director Nadine Caron, in a news release. The centre aims to boost research projects addressing Aboriginal health at the university as well as increasing collaborative projects with Indigenous communities across the province, and developing partnerships with the BC First Nations Health Authority and other Indigenous organizations. The Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Health is housed in the multi-disciplinary UBC School of Population and Public Health, in the Faculty of Medicine.