Canadians must hold government accountable in Nunavut’s tuberculosis outbreak – CBC

Dr. Sarah Giles, a family physician, says depth and scale of problem needs more attention

Apr 25, 2018

The depth and scale of this problem should leave every Canadian outraged.

Most Canadians think of poor countries when they think about tuberculosis (TB), a disease intimately connected with substandard living conditions.

Last year, 100 people in Nunavut were diagnosed with active TB — a number many Canadians would find shocking.

To put that number in perspective, Nunavut now has the same incidence rate of TB as Somalia, 261 cases per 100,000. The rest of Canada has an incidence rate of only 0.6 cases per 100,000 people.

With rare exceptions, such as when children like 15-year-old Ileen Kooneeliusie of Qikiqtarjuaq, die from the disease, as she did in January 2017, the Canadian media have not reported on the longstanding problem in the North.

Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-tuberculosis-outbreak-1.4633882