Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/08/11/inuit-newfoundland-811.html
Inuit fear Canadian flu plan won't work
Last Updated: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 | 8:46 AM NT
CBC News
The national Inuit committee on health is calling on Canadian health officials to develop a specific strategy for dealing with an H1N1 pandemic in northern Inuit communities.
The committee says current plans to deal with a swine flu outbreak in Canada don't meet the needs of Inuit or people living in isolated communities.
?Some of the things that make us even more vulnerable are the overcrowded housing which make you more likely to pick up a bug that someone else in your house has and the other is the [lack of] access to medical service,? said Gail Turner, chair of the Nunatsiavut government committee on Inuit health.
The Nunatsiavut government represents the interests of Inuit in Labrador.
?There is no chest X-ray ability on coastal Labrador. Sometimes it's very useful to have chest X-rays to tell you what is going on.?
Most Inuit live in fly-in communities and don't have the same access to health care as people in urban areas. Turner says severely ill patients in Labrador would have to be sent to a larger centre for treatment during a swine flu outbreak. The committee has raised its concerns with the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Officials with the agency says they?ll speak with Inuit leaders about their concerns.
Coastal Labrador Inuit communities were devastated by the massive influenza pandemic of 1918. That outbreak killed more than 20 million people worldwide; about one-third of Labrador?s Inuit population died.
In some communities the death toll was extremely high. In one settlement, Okak, 204 of 263 residents died. After the pandemic hit Okak it ceased to exist and was never repopulated.
Inuit fear Canadian flu plan won't work
Last Updated: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 | 8:46 AM NT
CBC News
The national Inuit committee on health is calling on Canadian health officials to develop a specific strategy for dealing with an H1N1 pandemic in northern Inuit communities.
The committee says current plans to deal with a swine flu outbreak in Canada don't meet the needs of Inuit or people living in isolated communities.
?Some of the things that make us even more vulnerable are the overcrowded housing which make you more likely to pick up a bug that someone else in your house has and the other is the [lack of] access to medical service,? said Gail Turner, chair of the Nunatsiavut government committee on Inuit health.
The Nunatsiavut government represents the interests of Inuit in Labrador.
?There is no chest X-ray ability on coastal Labrador. Sometimes it's very useful to have chest X-rays to tell you what is going on.?
Most Inuit live in fly-in communities and don't have the same access to health care as people in urban areas. Turner says severely ill patients in Labrador would have to be sent to a larger centre for treatment during a swine flu outbreak. The committee has raised its concerns with the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Officials with the agency says they?ll speak with Inuit leaders about their concerns.
Coastal Labrador Inuit communities were devastated by the massive influenza pandemic of 1918. That outbreak killed more than 20 million people worldwide; about one-third of Labrador?s Inuit population died.
In some communities the death toll was extremely high. In one settlement, Okak, 204 of 263 residents died. After the pandemic hit Okak it ceased to exist and was never repopulated.