Feds, First Nations leaders at odds on swine flu preparations

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and a First Nations chief had widely divergent views Friday on the state of flu pandemic preparedness plans for aboriginal communities.

Aglukkaq told a parliamentary committee hearing in Ottawa that 90 per cent of 600 First Nations communities have a plan. In contrast, Grand Chief Sydney Garrioch of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak said only two of 30 communities in his northern territory have a plan for dealing with the swine flu pandemic.

When Opposition MPs asked why the federal government is not contributing to pandemic kits for First Nations in Manitoba, Aglukkaq responded by asking whether purchasing soap should be federal responsibility, and that medical supplies are available from nursing stations.

Aglukkaq noted that aboriginal communities in Canada are younger on average than other communities, with a higher number of pregnant women and people with diabetes, which make them more vulnerable to severe disease from the H1N1 virus.

Soap without water

Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said all families should have basic supplies on hand, such as Tylenol for flu symptoms, a thermometer to check for fever, soap and water and potentially hand sanitizer.

But several native leaders described their frustrations from trying to deal with the pandemic when they lack running water, face overcrowded housing and insufficient funding.

Federal health officials responded that they have offered public health guidance to Indian and Northern Affairs, which is responsible for water on First Nations communities. The department makes a distinction between access to water and access to drinking water, since any water can be boiled for handwashing purposes, said Shelagh Jane Woods, director general of Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit health branch.

But Manitoba Grand Chief Ron Evans said the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs was "continually stonewalled by tight-fisted financial decisions that ignore Crown fiduciary responsibilities for health care."

Gail Turner, the director of health services for the Nunatsiavut government and chairperson of the national Inuit committee on health, said Inuit are vulnerable because of geography, weather and sickness from other diseases, since it's not always possible to fly people who are severely ill from swine flu to larger hospitals.

The federal pandemic plans for remote and isolated northern communities, Turner said, have "guidelines created [that] do not fit, and use a language that is full of false assumptions and hints of colonial bureaucracy."

Shawn Atleo, the newly elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said it's time to turn the immediate H1N1 "crisis" into a broader discussion of the desperate circumstances that many First Nations communities face.

2nd wave on the way

Elsewhere, the World Health Organization said Friday that swine flu infections have reached a peak in the Southern Hemisphere. The pandemic is now set to shift back north, where a second wave will put a strain on health  care facilities, the UN health agency said.

"The H1N1 pandemic virus has rapidly established itself and is now the dominant influenza strain in most parts of the world," WHO said in a statement. "The pandemic will persist in the coming months as the virus continues to move through susceptible populations."

Flu levels have returned to normal in most southern countries, but remain elevated in South Africa and Bolivia, said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl. Infections also seem to be starting earlier than normal in Japan, he said.

Research shows the H1N1 virus replaced normal in most southern countries during their flu season. The majority of infections were mild, along the lines of illnesses caused by normal flu.

Countries should plan for growing demand on hospital intensive care units from a second wave of the pandemic, WHO urged. But a second wave of flu in northern countries such as Canada will put a strain on health-care facilities such as intensive care units, the UN health agency said.

Doctors worldwide are reporting a very severe form of the disease in young and otherwise healthy people. "In these patients, the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure," WHO said