Equal Health Care for All Canadian Children

Health indicators among children in Nunavut are approaching the levels of those in Sri Lanka and Fiji, says Mary Simon

Imagine for a moment that you are a pregnant 19-year-old Inuk living in a community of 1,000 people in Arctic Canada. There is no hospital, no doctor stationed permanently in town, not even a midwife. And so when it comes time to deliver, you must fly (because there are no roads) to the nearest major city to welcome your new child into the world.You are alone in the hospital, in the city, because the Health Canada program that covers many (but not all) health-care costs for First Nations and Inuit patients will pay for your travel costs but not your partner’s or your mother’s. And because the hour-and-a-half flight costs several hundred dollars – the cost of two weeks’ worth of groceries – an amount they can’t afford.

As the labour pains grow faster and stronger, you wonder if you will become a statistic. You know that Nunavut’s infant mortality rate is the highest in Canada, with 16 deaths per 1,000 live births. This is the reality for mothers and children in Inuit communities. You deliver a baby girl: Rosalie.

In fact, Rosalie’s story can be found in the recently released “Aboriginal Children’s Health: Leaving No Child Behind,” the Unicef Canada report that reveals health indicators among children in Nunavut are approaching the levels of those in Sri Lanka and Fiji.

This Canadian supplement to the State of the World’s Children, an annual Unicef survey of child development indicators around the world, examines maternal and child health benefits. The Canadian supplement pays particular attention to the health of aboriginal mothers and children, with a focus on the personal stories of Inuit, First Nations and Métis.

The infant mortality rate is more than a technical measure of the deaths of young children, the Unicef report states. It is an indicator of seismic fault lines in the delivery of health services to mothers and children.

And while rates have remained high and even increased among Inuit, the overall Canadian infant mortality rate has declined steadily, and now stands at five deaths per 1,000 live births.

This, coupled with other alarming health indicators among Inuit, points to a health-care crisis in Canada’s North.

The tuberculosis rate among Inuit is 90 times greater than the rate among the non-immigrant Canadian population. Meanwhile, the Canadian incidence of the disease has fallen to its lowest rate ever recorded. Inuit men suffer from the highest rates of lung cancer in the country and kill themselves at a tragic and furious pace.

Inuit children are nearly 50 per cent less likely than non-Inuit to have seen a doctor in the past year. They are also more likely to live in poverty and in overcrowded homes, which increases their susceptibility to communicable diseases and viral infections.

The sudden and rapid spread of the H1N1 virus in our communities demonstrates this. Nunavut recorded its first case of swine flu in late May. Less than a month later, there were more than 200 cases.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which obliges governments to ensure that all children receive the highest attainable standard of health and access to health-care services. I urge the federal government to end the cycle of neglect and ensure that all children receive the care to which they’re entitled. That cannot happen until services for Inuit children are funded to the same level as those for other Canadian children.

Mary Simon: Special to Globe and Mail