NTI gives $4M for TB elimination on World Tuberculosis Day
Nunavut has highest rate of the disease in Canada
Arviat is the latest Nunavut community to declare a tuberculosis outbreak. It’s one of four communities across the territory with ongoing outbreaks. (File photo)
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. will provide $4 million to the Government of Nunavut for its fight to eliminate tuberculosis in the territory.
The funding was approved last week during NTI’s virtual board meeting and came just days before World Tuberculosis Day on Monday.
NTI is an organization mandated to protect the rights of Nunavut Inuit.
The money is set to support four Nunavut communities currently experiencing TB outbreaks and fund a campaign to “address the stigma” related to the disease, NTI said March 21 in a news release.
Nunavut communities experiencing tuberculosis outbreak are Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet, Naujaat and Arviat.
The funding will also provide three months of food hampers for those going through TB treatment.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection primarily spread through prolonged exposure in confined spaces, according to the Nunavut Department of Health. Symptoms may include a cough lasting more than three weeks, fatigue, loss of appetite, and a fever.
The disease is treatable with medication but can be deadly without medical intervention.
In 2021, Nunavut had the highest rate of active tuberculosis cases among all Canadian jurisdictions, which is almost 40 times higher than the national average, according to the Government of Canada.
World Tuberculosis Day marks the day the bacteria that causes the disease was discovered in 1882, according to the World Health Organization.
The day is meant to raise public awareness about the “devastating health, social and economic consequences of tuberculosis,” the organization’s website says.
To mark the day, the Nunavut Government and NTI are launching a territory-wide art contest.
Nunavummiut of all ages, including Nunavut Inuit residing outside the territory, are encouraged to submit their artwork to “demonstrate how we can unite as a healthy community to end TB, and support those who are affected by it,” a joint GN and NTI news release said.
Selected artwork will be featured in a 2026 TB awareness calendar.
Submissions are open now until April 25, with winners announced later in May.
Very good news from NTI .
Appropriate use of the money.
Please make sure it is really spent to fight TB , medecine, surveillance in each community for those that have to take those medecine, etc.
Thanks
I’m almost always very critical of NTI, but this is great news and an amazing push forward by NTI
This is good news indeed.
I have a few points to add.
The fact that tuberculosis is an extremely recalcitrant bacterium means that the medication needs to be taken for many months in order to get TB into remission. Unfortunately, the medications (powerful antibiotics) come with serious side effects.
This fundamental pharmaceutical reality implies that a strong emphasis on TB prevention is needed. This should be pursued with the same level of diligence as the treatment of existing infection cases.
And, the best way to prevent TB is to ensure that thorough, high-efficiency ventilation and high-quality HEPA filtration systems are present in all indoor spaces. This includes homes, schools, municipal offices, and commercial buildings.
Sadly, here in Nunavut, we are still very much behind in terms of indoor air quality (IAQ). Simply put, we have a lot of buildings that are grandfathered back to old building practices (and Nunavut only began adopting building codes back in about 2018, and even then, the latest building codes still do not reflect the latest scientific insights regarding the transmission of airborne respiratory pathogens). Overcrowding (which in turn is tied to poverty) is another problem.
So, while NTI’s efforts are indeed laudable, we need additional emphasis on the housing-related aspects as well, all on a Nunavut-wide basis.
Nunavut quote
“to our elders, whom we love so much, they make our territory an incredible place to live and so remarkable, giving us historically impressive and monumental moments”
Multi-drug resistant TB will spread world- wide as the US defunds heath care in Africa.
The only current TB vaccine, the Bacille , is not ideal.
A new vaccine, M72/ASOIE, is in stage three trials, The Gates foundation is funding it.
Some consideration should be given to joining the trial.
The dialogue would run the gamut.
NTI please start investing your money and make money with the land claims money instead of relying on the interest rates.
We as Inuit want to see NTI actually making money thru investments like other birthright orgs do.
Its time to invest with all that money and make money to benefit the Inuit finally.
I am so confused. I looked and relooked through the Nunavut Agreement for where it says that Inuit have to pay government to deliver health care services to Inuit. I cannot find it anywhere where it says an Inuit organization should be doing anything about health, let alone pay for it.
Can someone please help figure out how NTI gets to contravene the Canada Health Act by paying for health care services on our behalf?
No. We all can highly suspect that this is not just what happened. What probably happened here is that the Government of Canada, in its continuing orgy of settler guilt, gave NTI some money for Inuit Health Care, even though NTI is nowhere close to being an actual health delivery agency. NTI then sat on the money for a while, then figured that giving that money to the government that is actually responsible for delivering health services was the best thing to do. Which they did.
This is probably not our Inuit leadership taking a measured role in an important topic for Inuit using our own resources. This is that poor same schmuck of a taxpayer down south paying for stuff up here with the added insult of paying NTI’s overhead let it pass through their hands to dole it out.
Surely something like this happened instead of NTI gratuitously wasting our Nunavut Trust interest, or mining revenue for something government should be doing anyway.