H1N1 won't be last health crisis for First Nations: chief

Aboriginal Canadians will continue to be hit hard by illnesses until living conditions on reserves improve, says National Chief Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations.

Some reserves are overcrowded, lack clean drinking water and don't have easy access to medical facilities. Hopefully, the H1N1 pandemic will prompt more action to fix chronic social problems, Atleo said in a webcast Tuesday.

He spoke as federal health officials reached aboriginal Canadians in an online summit on H1N1 readiness in First Nations communities. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Atleo were part of the webcast, which featured pre-recorded questions, along with answers from public health officials.

"I feel like aboriginal communities are neglected," one young Cree man said in his taped message to health officals. "The whole body-bag thing really upset me when I heard about it," he added in calling for more doctors in remote communities.

In September, Health Canada apologized for sending more than two dozen body bags to a Manitoba First Nation in preparation for a possible swine flu outbreak. The excessive shipment raised alarm and criticism across the country.

Working on improvements

Gina Wilson, deputy minister with the Indian Affairs Department, said Tuesday the government is working to improve living conditions on reserves.

First Nations participants said they want to make sure they'll be able to respond if the number of H1N1 infections begins to climb in their communities.

Last spring in St. Theresa Point First Nation, a community about 500 kilometres from Winnipeg, there were 122 confirmed H1N1 cases in the first wave of swine flu.

Now, 95 per cent of First Nations communities have a pandemic plan, said Dr. Paul Gully, Health Canada's senior medical adviser. Vaccination clinics have been held in some communities, including St. Theresa Point.

So far in the second wave, Gully said he's not seeing a disproportionate amount of serious illness in First Nations communities.

"We're not seeing what we saw in Manitoba in the springtime, but of course we're carrying out surveillance to keep an eye on that constantly."

H1N1 vaccine and HIV

Gully and Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, used the summit to promote the H1N1 flu vaccine.

Meanwhile, Canadian researchers will study H1N1 vaccine safety and dosage needs in people living with HIV.

The study, led by scientists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the University of Ottawa, will look at how people with HIV respond to vaccine including an adjuvant, an additive that boosts immunity.

The trial will include 150 HIV-positive volunteers divided into two groups.

Lead investigator Dr. Curtis Cooper said it's important to figure out how to best protect people with HIV, because they are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill if they catch the flu.

The study is one of the first in the world to look at this issue, though U.S. researchers have already launched a trial looking at how to best use vaccine without adjuvant in this patient group.

The study is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research through the PHAC-CIHR Influenza Research Network.

Other Canadian clinical trials are focused on determining the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine in groups such as First Nations, children and pregnant women.

Vaccine donations

Elsewhere Tuesday, the World Health Organization said it expects drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to finish shipping donations of H1N1 vaccine to developing countries by May 2010.

Countries hope to start receiving the first 50 million doses in late November or early December, said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl.

The donations were first announced in May.

Four vaccine makers, Glaxo, Sanofi-Aventis, MedImmune and CSL, have promised to donate a total of 156 million doses of vaccine against the H1N1 pandemic strain to poor countries.