Inuit TB strategy needed: report

A House of Commons committee report calls for an Inuit-specific tuberculosis strategy in Canada's North, where the infection rate is high among Inuit.

In a report tabled earlier this month, the standing committee on health recommended that Health Canada define a control program to lower tuberculosis rates in First Nations reserves and Inuit communities.

That program should have "goals and targets, and performance indicators that are measured on an annual basis at the regional level and/or national level," the report says.

The program should also address underlying social issues that help spread tuberculosis among Inuit, such as poor nutrition and overcrowded housing, according to the committee's report.

Health Canada officials said they will respond to the report's recommendations later this year.

"I'm very confident because I think if nothing else, what's happened here is that there's a momentum that's being built," Gail Turner, chair of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's health committee, told CBC News on Monday.

185 times higher

The standing committee's recommendations echo a similar proposal by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami in March, when new statistics showed tuberculosis infection rates are 185 times higher among Inuit than they are among Canadian-born non-aboriginal people.

Canada's four main Inuit regions have a TB incidence rate of 157.5 for every 100,000 people, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. The rate in southern Canada is 0.8 per 100,000.

"Even though the distance between where we are and where we need to go is great ... we should not accept anything less than what has been set for the national goal, which is a rate of five per 100,000," Turner said.

"To do any less than that would be to say that we're less worthy, and we don't believe that for a moment."

A respiratory disease, tuberculosis poses a public health threat because those infected can spread it when they cough, sneeze or talk.

On average, there are about 50 tuberculosis cases per year in Nunavut, according to health officials in that territory.

Nunavut working on lowering infections

Officials with Nunavut's Health Department said they are working on lowering the number of infections, although they have not set targets to date.

Department officials said they would strive to meet any new goals and targets, should Health Canada put any in place.

Turner said it's not guaranteed that the standing committee's recommendations will be implemented, but a new group is working on an Inuit-specific plan to track and lower tuberculosis infection rates.

The group includes Turner and representatives from the Nunavut government and Nunavut Tunngavik, the territory's Inuit land-claims organization.

Turner said the group is expected to present its own plan to federal officials in October.