Windspeaker Health Watch - October 2014

Nunavut suicide rate well above Canadian rate

In 2013, there were 45 suicides in Nunavut, almost entirely among the Inuit population of 27,000. That’s a new statistical peak since the founding of the territory in 1999. That rate comes to 166 per hundred thousand. The suicide rate in Nunavut is almost five times the world’s highest national rate of 35 per hundred thousand in Lithuania. There, many of the suicides derive from financial problems among older and working-age people. But among Canada’s Indian and Inuit, the incidence is concentrated among male youth, with one suicide, in 2013, of a boy of 11 in Repulse Bay. The overall suicide rate in Canada has been holding fairly steady at about 12 per hundred thousand, with the Nunavut rate running 14 times the national average. Food insecurity, malnutrition, poor health and overall deprivation of children are a serious problem in these communities, as well as lack of education and employment.

A new report measures baseline data for cancer control in the Métis population. It shows patients, their families and caregivers face common issues in cancer care. They include challenges in access to care for rural and remote communities in relation to treatment centres; financial burden; lack of trust and confidence in the cancer care system; the need for emotional support for the patient and their family; and the need for preventative health and cancer awareness education at the community level.

“In order to reduce the overall burden of cancer amongst Canada’s Métis population, we first need to understand what the cancer landscape looks like: where the greatest risk factors are, how we can mitigate them, and where we can improve the experience for cancer patients, their caregivers and their families,” said Pam Tobin, director, Strategy Implementation, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Cancer Control at the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.

The report also found that Métis patients could benefit from a greater blend of western and traditional approaches to cancer management. The report spotlights some promising paths forward, including greater use of telehealth to keep patients in their home communities; mining health insurance client registries for data specific to the Métis community; greater use of mobile screening programs; employing Aboriginal patient navigation liaisons; and improving discharge planning.

In March, with partners from across First Nations, Inuit and Métis organizations and the health sector, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer launched a $10.2 million, 3.5 year initiative to improve the quality of the cancer journey for Aboriginal peoples residing in remote and isolated communities in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Québec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador. This report offers a baseline of data to measure progress and improvement.

The Government of the Northwest Territories’ Anti-Poverty Action Plan has received $500,000 and will provide for projects and initiatives to help reduce poverty at the community, regional and territorial levels. “The successful proposals demonstrated ingenuity and respect for culture and tradition. The GNWT is proud to assist these 14 organizations in realizing the objectives they have outlined in their proposals and to ultimately improve the lives of people in the territory,” said Minister of Health and Social Services Glen Abernethy. The range of initiatives covers every part of the territory and addresses a variety of aspects of poverty. The initiatives are partnership between the GNWT, Aboriginal and community governments, Band Councils, NGOs and other groups.

A paper published in the Journal of the Canadian Public Health Association says the height discrepancy in Arctic Quebec implies that food insecurity is a long-running problem and not something that happens occasionally. “The observed association between food insecurity and linear growth suggests that the diet quality and quantity of children from food-insecure households had been compromised for a long time,” the paper said. The study by researchers affiliated with Laval University is believed to be the first to look into the physical consequences. They examined 294 children between the ages of eight and 14 from several villages in Nunavik. About half of those children came from homes considered food-insecure. They found a high correlation between slow growth rates and food insecurity.

The Ontario government will be putting money into a Healthy Kids Community Challenge, which will provide support over the next four years for training, community kitchens and gardens, and physical activity and recreational programs. Receiving funds are 45 communities across Ontario, of which there are four Aboriginal Health Access Centres and two Aboriginal Community Health Centres, which will be funded directly to provide this program to their Aboriginal communities. The selected AHACs centres are De dwa da dehs nye>s Aboriginal Health Centre, Noojmowin Teg Health Centre, Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre and Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health. Centre de santé communautaire CHIGAMIK Community Health Centre and Misiway Milopemahtesewin Community Health Centre are the selected Aboriginal CHCs.