Dark Times for Reserves Continue

Thousands of aboriginal Canadians died during the Spanish flu of 1918, wiping out entire villages. Today H1N1, commonly called swine flu, has been spreading around the world. While this flu is not killing large numbers of people in Canada yet, it is affecting a disproportionate number of aboriginal people. While only 10% of Manitoba’s population is aboriginal, the great majority of swine flu victims hospitalized in the province are aboriginal. The infection rate among aboriginals in Manitoba is 135 per 100, 000, compared to 20 per 100, 000 for the Canadian population as a whole. The question as to why aboriginals are being affected in larger numbers was broached this month by a study published in The Lancet. The authors conclude that it is the poor social conditions present on reserves, and not genetics, that are responsible for the outbreaks occurring on reserves. These social conditions include overcrowded housing, poverty, deficient nutrition, and a lack of clean drinking water. This week a young aboriginal woman died of the virus, leaving four children and a partner behind. Dr. Malcolm King, one of the authors of The Lancet study points out the obvious fact that if the virus continues to spread its effects will be felt across the country, across all segments of the population. He also points out that aside from making the surveillance of flu cases a priority of aboriginal leaders, the poor social conditions present on reserves should be improved.

“Why should milk cost several times what it does in our big cities, and fresh fruit vegetables barely available? And yet pop and chips are almost the same cost? Health researchers need to get involved in looking at the health effects of social determinants interventions, such as housing and education and economic development."

Why indeed? And why does it take an emergency likes this to draw attention to the grossly inadequate living conditions of Canadian citizens? Aboriginals are fearful that this virus will result in similarly devastating effects as the Spanish flu did nearly a century ago. Fears of a vaccine shortage are prompting aboriginal leaders to ask the government to prioritize medical assistance to First Nations communities, who worry that their communities will be the last to receive help in the event of a pandemic. The remoteness of many reserves coupled with the greater susceptibility to infection is an obvious recipe for disaster. In addition to this, the aboriginal population in Canada is young (50% below 25 years of age), an independent risk factor for the flu identified by the WHO and the Public Health Agency of Canada. When swine flu first affected aboriginal communities in this spring, many reserves did not receive adequate supplies of masks, hand sanitizers, and antivirals. Leaders are acting now in the hopes of preventing the same situation from occurring if there are flu outbreaks in the fall, a more dangerous time to become infected. Doctors are already being given rules to determine who should be treated first in the event that there are insufficient medical resources to treat a possible swine flu pandemic this fall, so the concerns voiced by aboriginal leaders are justified.

While other countries like Britain and the United States are preparing for the possible swine flu pandemic by offering explicit advice to people about what to do if they think they have contracted the virus, Canada’s Public Health Agency suggests that people talk to a health professional if they have flu-like symptoms and notes that antivirals are not currently being prescribed. The young aboriginal woman, Vanessa Bluebell, who died this week was given an inhaler and sent home from the hospital when she contacted a health professional, so this advice is questionable. H1N1 serves as a sad reminder of the inadequacy of our health care system as well as the extreme difficulties facing our First Nations, Inuit, and Metis populations. Hopefully the attention being brought to the issue by aboriginal leaders and health care providers will mobilize the government to act now.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2009/16/c6557.html

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