Ottawa plans renewed fight against Nunavut’s top TB-ranking in Canada

The bacteria that causes tuberculosis is still widespread in Nunavut. (FILE PHOTO)

By the end of March 22, people in Nunavut will have a better idea of how governments and health experts plan to work together to lower the territory’s high rates of tuberculosis.

The results of the Taima TB pilot project will be shared at a community feast scheduled for 6 p.m. March 22 at Iqaluit’s Anglican Parish Hall.

And during the afternoon of March 22, federal health minister Leona Aglukkaq, Keith Peterson, Nunavut’s minister of health and social services, Cathy Towtongie, president, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., and Dr. Gonzalo Alvarez, a researcher from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the University of Ottawa, will be at Iqaluit’s Qikiqtani General Hospital to announce new money for TB research.

At the feast, people will hear from community members and health professionals involved in last year’s Taima TB campaign, which combined public education, social media outreach, door-to-door screening and treatment for TB, with support from NTI., Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the National Aboriginal Health Organization and the New Brunswick Lung Association.

This year the Government of Nunavut plans to support — and possibly expand — the Taima TB program.

Nationally, the rate of TB is the lowest since data was first recorded in 1924, says a recent health report.

But in Nunavut the number of cases has doubled compared to 2009. The rate of TB in Nunavut is more than 300 cases for every 100,000 people.

These latest figures came as Aglukkaq unveiled a new strategy March 21 to target the high rates of tuberculosis among on-reserve First Nations.

The strategy intends to try and cut the transmission of TB with a three-pronged approach, by looking at prevention and treatment, targeting the most at-risk populations and developing stronger partnerships across governments.

The program will be implemented in different ways in each province and territory and there is no specific dollar amount attached to the strategy, a spokesman for Health Canada said.

TB, an infectious bacterial disease, is highly contagious and, while it is curable with antibiotic treatment, it can be fatal if left untreated.

TB preys on people whose general well-being is already weakened by poor diet, smoking and alcohol abuse. Crowded housing also encourages the spread of the disease.

Figures tabled Feb. 21 in the Nunavut legislature show TB continues to affect many in Nunavut: from January to October 2011, 62 new cases of active TB surfaced in the territory.

Overall, there were 75 active cases of TB reported in Nunavut in 2011, 97 per cent in the Baffin region.

According to the World Health Organization, each person with active TB can infect 10 to 15 people a year on average.

So, based on the WHO transmission estimates, Nunavut’s Baffin region could have more than 1,000 active TB cases.

However, without screening, most people infected with the tuberculosis bacillus, or germ, don’t become ill or even know they are infected because germ can lie dormant in a person’s lungs for many years.

with files from Postmedia News