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National chiefs urge feds to step up anti-TB fight

By: Jen Skerritt

Posted: 07/23/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

First Nations chiefs plan to push the federal government to eradicate "unacceptable" rates of tuberculosis.

The Assembly of First Nations passed a resolution to work with the federal government to improve TB care and prevention. The plan was finalized on the third day of AFN's annual general assembly in Winnipeg on Thursday afternoon, and immediately renewed hope among afflicted communities that the longtime scourge will finally be addressed.

Rates of TB are 31 times higher among First Nations, and the AFN wants the federal government to commit adequate funding and resources to tackle the problem and the causes that allow it to spread.

Northlands First Nation Chief Joe Dantouze said Health Canada has not addressed the overcrowded houses and poverty that have helped the disease spread for more than a century. Dantouze said he put forth the resolution in the hope that communities that have been struck by repeated TB outbreaks can eliminate the disease for good.

"TB has been around for over 100 years now and it's never been addressed the way it should be. We always get a Band-Aid solution," Dantouze said.

"A long-term solution has to be put in place."

Last year, a Free Press series revealed some Manitoba communities, including Northlands First Nation at Lac Brochet, have recorded some of the highest TB rates in the world. More than 600 cases of TB per 100,000 people have been recorded in some aboriginal communities.

By comparison, Canada's national rate is five cases per 100,000 and the rate in Bangladesh is slightly below 400 cases per 100,000.

The AFN wants the federal government to create a strategy that improves current TB programs and helps communities build up their own capacity to deal with outbreaks. They also want Health Canada to issue annual reports on the efficacy of their TB prevention and control programs.

Dantouze said TB outbreaks still occur in Manitoba communities and he's optimistic the renewed push to put an end to them will result in positive change.

"I feel good about it," he said. "I know something good will come out of this for sure."

The resolution comes just one month after a federal health committee urged Health Canada to improve its plan to fight TB and set clear targets to reduce the disproportionately high rates in First Nations and Inuit communities.

The report includes a slew of recommendations to revamp Canada's TB strategy amid a renewed push to eliminate a disease critics have called a "national embarrassment."

It calls for the auditor general to investigate "the impact" of funds previously allocated to TB control programs on reserves and urges Health Canada to be more accountable about how it treats and tracks TB cases.

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 23, 2010 A5

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