Inuit encouraged to “know the risks” on World Cancer Day

Kaggutiq is a glossary of 252 cancer terms translated into five Inuit languages and dialects. (PAUKTUUTIT IMAGE)

February 4 is World Cancer Day, a day to raise awareness about a deadly disease that kills 8.2 million people around the globe each year.

It has also grown to become the second leading cause of death among Inuit in Canada.

Compared to the general Canadian population, Inuit now have a higher incidence of lung, liver, throat, nasal and salivary cancer.

A report published in 2013 by the Canadian Cancer Society revealed that in Nunavut, while incidence rates for some cancers are still lower, the territory’s cancer death rates are the highest in the country.

And incidences of lung cancer among Canada’s Inuit higher than most other populations in the world.

The report points to smoking as a significant cause of the disease, noting that smoking rates among Inuit are three times the national average.

Other major “risk factors” include physical inactivity, diet, obesity and alcohol consumption.

A more recent report prepared by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is hoping to change that by gathering baseline information treatment programs available to Inuit across the North.

The goal of those efforts is to highlight the need and push for better screening programs and cancer care in Inuit communities.

In the meantime, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada has been working to develop culturally-appropriate cancer awareness tools for Inuit and health care providers working in Northern communities.

In 2014, the organization produced an Inuktut glossary of cancer-related terms in five dialects, covering dozens of basic terms for the symptoms and side effects of cancer, and more technical names for treatments, like magnetic resonance imaging or radiation therapy.

The glossary introduced a new Inuktut term for the disease: kagguti, which comes from the word kagguaq, meaning “knocked out of natural order.”

It replaces an earlier and more sinister term annia aaqqijuajunnangituq, which means” incurable ailment.”

Pauktuutit said it continues to encourage Inuit to be active participants in their own health, by making informed decisions treatment.

“We need to be informed about the cancer risks to our family and community,” said Pauktuutit president Rebecca Kudloo in a Feb. 4 release.

Those include being smoke-free, more physically active, eating healthier, limiting alcohol intake and getting tested.

“It is never too early to teach your children healthy lifestyle choices and the importance of what is normal for their own bodies,” Kudloo said. “We all need to know about cancer.”