Health care often inaccessible to Inuit: report
03.12.2008 23:39
Health
- Source: cbc.ca
Inuit have far less contact with doctors than the average Canadian, particularly in the northern communities where few have access to hospitals, a new Statistics Canada report says. Only 56 per cent of Inuit adults had contact with a doctor either in person or over the phone over the past year, while 79 per cent of total Canadians reported the same, according to the report. Wednesday's 28-page document marks the first of three reports to be released by Statistics Canada about the state of aboriginal peoples off reserves following a survey done between October 2006 and March 2007. It says Inuit face particular problems accessing health care in the remote Inuit Nunaat region — the Inuit homeland that stretches across the north from the Yukon east to northern Labrador. None of the 52 communities in the region has year-round road access and only a few have hospitals. Some have health centres staffed by nurses. Lack of contact with doctors was much more pronounced among those living in Inuit Nunaat — with just under half reporting contact with a doctor compared with three-quarters of those living outside the region. Three-quarters of the 50,485 Inuit in Canada live in this region, according to the 2006 census, with many of the others living in the cities of Ottawa-Gatineau, Yellowknife, Edmonton and Montreal. About 10 per cent of Inuit across the country said there was a time in the past year when they needed health care, but didn't receive it. The reasons varied depending on the area, with those outside Inuit Nunaat citing long wait times, whereas those inside the region pointed both to wait times and lack of available care. Patients need to fly out for treatmentTo be treated by physicians or for an appointment with a specialist, the Inuit must be flown outside their community, the report states. About five per cent reported being forced to leave their communities for one month or more to get the medical care they needed. In five years, there was a 10 per cent jump in Inuit adults reporting diagnosis of one or more chronic conditions — from 34 per cent in 2001 to 44 per cent in 2006. Conditions most commonly reported were arthritis or rheumatism and high blood pressure. The report notes "significant gaps" in the well-being of Inuit compared with the average Canadian, with a life expectancy 15 years short than other Canadians. It noted a drop in the number of Inuit adults who felt their health was excellent or very good. Whereas in 2001, 56 per cent of those aged 15 or older selected that category, only half felt that way in 2006. The report also noted that lung cancer rates among Inuit in Canada are among the highest in the world, largely due to high smoking rates among the population. More than half, 58 per cent, of Inuit adults smoke on a daily basis — three times the rate among all Canadian adults. Hunger a frequent problemThe Statistics Canada report states that nearly a third of Inuit children have gone hungry at some point because their families ran out of food or money to buy it. The highest proportion was among those children in Nunavut. Of those children who went hungry, four out of 10 experienced it every month or possibly more often. One positive aspect was the continued consumption of nutrient-rich "country foods" — food from the land and sea such as seal, caribou, whale, duck, fish and berries, eaten by the Inuit for thousands of years. A majority of Inuit adults still harvested country food in 2005. The report also notes that a strong tradition of "Ningiqtuq," or sharing, their food has served the Inuit well. In the Inuit Nunaat region, about eight out of 10 people responded that their household shared country food with others in the previous years. Story Tools: E-MAIL | PRINT | Text Size: SMLXL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACKRelatedInternal LinksOvercrowded, substandard housing persists among Inuit: StatsCanExternal LinksStatistics Canada report: Aboriginal Peoples Survey, 2006: Inuit health and social conditions(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window) Health HeadlinesHealth care often inaccessible to Inuit: reportInuit have far less contact with doctors than the average Canadian, particularly in the northern communities where few have hospitals, a new Statistics Canada report says.Self-embedding of objects in body a puzzling teen disorderSome teens are wounding themselves and embedding objects such as paper clips and glass to cope with disturbed thoughts and feelings, say U.S. doctors who are looking for ways to remove the objects safely.Add sleep break for doctors in training: reportDoctors training at hospitals should limit how long they work without a sleep break to reduce the chances of fatigue-related medical errors and improve their learning environment, an expert panel in the U.S. recommended.Online stem cell therapies 'not ready for prime time,' study cautionsA Canadian study says consumers should be wary of web-based clinics that offer unproven stem cell therapies for numerous diseases.Ontario adds 6 new drugs to coverage listOntario added six new prescription drugs, including a long-lasting form of insulin and a colorectal cancer medication, to its list of those covered by the Ontario Public Drug Programs. 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