Inuit Tobacco-free Network Launched
November 13, 2009
For Immediate Release
OTTAWA, ON — Inuit Tuttarvingat of the National Aboriginal Health Organization has created a resource Web site and listserv for Inuit smoking cessation counsellors, health-care providers and smokers themselves that provides information about the latest research on tobacco, quitting and reducing tobacco use, and health promotion materials that can be used in Inuit communities.Inuit Tuttarvingat is launching the Inuit Tobacco-free Network during National Addictions Awareness Week, November 15-21, to provide Inuit with easy access to materials about addictions to cigarettes, chewing tobacco and snuff and ways to combat these addictions. More than half of Inuit adults smoke daily in Canada, according to the 2006 Aboriginal Peoples Survey.
“There are so many good, helpful materials out there in northern communities about the risks of using tobacco such as health promotion campaigns, quitting tips for smokers, and posters and videos in the Inuit language. We wanted to put many of these on one Web site for people to access,” says Dianne Kinnon, director of Inuit Tuttarvingat.
The Inuktitut-English Web site, www.InuitTobaccofree.ca, links users to research reports, journal articles, cessation and quitting tips, and tobacco-related news from the North. Inuit smoking cessation counsellors and others working in tobacco reduction can join the Inuit Tobacco-free Network to share documents and other information through a listserv, itn[at]naho.ca
Inuit Tuttarvingat created the Inuit Tobacco-free Network because of requests from Inuit and others working in tobacco reduction to have a way to share current research and smoking cessation materials. The National Inuit Tobacco Task Group, as well as Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s Inuit tobacco reduction strategy, has called for more information sharing of tobacco resources for Inuit.
A key focus of the Inuit Tobacco-free Network Web site is to link to Inuit-specific and Inuit language materials about tobacco use and tobacco reduction. Documents are posted online in the language they were created in. Some key English documents will be translated into Inuit language dialects.
Another aspect of this project is distance education training for 25 Inuit health and wellness workers. By using the www.InuitTobaccofree.ca site and other training materials, more health and wellness workers will learn more about tobacco cessation, become aware of the most culturally relevant resources available to Inuit, and learn how to use these cessation materials in their own work at the community level. The distance education training will begin in the coming months.
Inuit Tuttarvingat is the Inuit-specific centre at the National Aboriginal Health Organization. It gathers and shares relevant Inuit health and wellness information with Inuit health-care professionals, health agencies, Inuit communities, Inuit organizations, and others working in the area of Inuit health.
Funding for the Inuit Tobacco-free Network was provided by Health Canada.
-30-
A Backgrounder is attached
For media inquiries, contact:
For more information, visit:
www.InuitTobaccofree.ca
Denise Rideout Communications Officer,
Inuit Tuttarvingat, NAHO
Toll-free: 1-877-602-4445 ext. 245
Direct: (613) 760-3516
E-mail: drideout[at]naho.ca
To join the network, e-mail
itn[at]naho.ca
