More control over health concerns required

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has taken strides to ensure that the health of Canada’s Indigenous population is not only one of the major focuses of the CIHR, but that the Indigenous population is “part of the health research that affects their own health,” said Dr. Malcolm King, scientific director of the CIHR- Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health.

King spoke at a workshop for academics and journalists hosted by CIHR- IAPH in Edmonton on Sept. 23 and 24.
The CIHR came into operation in 2000 and the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health, one of 13 institutes that form CIHR, is the only one of its kind in the world devoted to Aboriginal health.

“Until 2009, the responsibility for dealing with health inequities in the Aboriginal peoples within CIHR was mainly the responsibility of (the IAPH). . . . Now it’s the responsibility of the whole CIHR enterprise, all 13 institutes. That’s very important because that gives us much more possibilities and partnerships,” said King.
He said sharing the responsibility enables the IAPH to develop partnerships, which is one of five strategic directions of the institute. Capacity and infrastructure building, the inclusion and recognition of Aboriginal values and culture in health research, resolving critical Aboriginal health issues, and translating Aboriginal knowledge into policy and practice are the other strategic directions.

There is an obvious disparity in health between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal population, said King, which is seen not only in the seven-year gap in life expectancy, but in the fact that Aboriginals are more likely to have hearing, sight and speech disabilities, as well as significantly higher rates of diabetes and other diseases.

Recognizing that this is only one aspect of the IAPH, a summit that recently crisscrossed the country was told that the Aboriginal population wants to be involved in finding solutions to their health concerns.

“We need to find ways to reach out to those (Aboriginal) communities and enable them to take a much more active role in health research alongside our academic communities,” said King.

However, he noted “a discordance, if you like, a mismatch between where our Indigenous community people live and where our academic centres are.”

Eight academic centres, stretching from the West to the East Coast, which build Aboriginal capacity and research development, operate in Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec City and Halifax.

The IAPH encourages Aboriginal students to do research and bring their perspective along with the perspective of their communities to what is developed.

“We need to make sure that the research is done in a way that will lead us to success and we strongly believe that needs to be done in full partnership with our communities,” said King.

The vision of the CIHR-IAPH is to “strive to improve the health of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people by supporting innovative research programs based on scientific excellence and Aboriginal community collaboration.”