TB rate among aboriginals far higher than non-natives

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This article was published 11/03/2010 (5676 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

By Mia Rabson

OTTAWA — The rate of tuberculosis among aboriginals in Manitoba is 51 times that of the non-aboriginal population, a new Health Canada report showed Wednesday.

The Public Health Agency of Canada released data from its Tuberculosis in Canada 2008 publication, revealing the rate of the airborne contagious disease among aboriginals in Manitoba was 51.2 per 100,000 people, compared to 1.2 for non-aboriginals.

Nationally, the rate for aboriginals was 28.2, compared to 0.8 for non-aboriginals.

In the territories, the rate among aboriginals was 130.2. The rate among non-aboriginals was zero.

Assembly of First Nations regional chief Angus Toulouse said the serious issue of tuberculosis among Canadian aboriginals is obviously not getting the attention it deserves from the federal government.

"It’s out of sight, out of mind," said Toulouse, who holds the national health portfolio at the AFN. "It’s not hitting home because they aren’t addressing the issue."

TB is an infectious disease that is highly contagious and spread through the air. Experts say it is a by-product of overcrowded homes, malnutrition and poor overall health. The airborne disease is rampant in many northern Manitoba communities where cramped living quarters help it spread.

NDP health critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis said these statistics cry out for an emergency national debate on a topic that has not generated enough attention from the government.

"We have to say out loud we have a problem," she said.

House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken didn’t grant Wasylycia-Leis’s request for an emergency debate, saying the NDP could raise the matter on one of three opposition days scheduled in the next week.

It’s the second report this week to illustrate the problem with the disease in the province.

Statistics released by the province on Tuesday showed in 2009, Manitoba recorded the highest number of cases of TB in a single year since the late 1970s. The number of cases — 156 — is 50 per cent higher than it was four years ago.

Toulouse said there is an urgent need for 87,000 homes on reserves in Canada, where some families live with more than a dozen people in houses built for just two or three.

Toulouse said funding to improve housing is key but so is education for aboriginal kids.

"The government needs to understand that education is a way out of this so aboriginals can actively contribute to the economy," he said.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the government is committed to reducing TB among First Nations and Inuit, has invested significant funding to support the on-reserve management of the disease and is working with provincial and territorial governments to curb the spread.

Wasylycia-Leis said a Winnipeg Free Press series into TB last fall shone a light on the epidemic and this latest report adds to the evidence demanding a national response.

The series, by reporter Jen Skerritt, recently won a Canadian Medical Association media award. It revealed some Manitoba First Nations have recorded some of the highest rates of TB in the world since the mid-1970s. Some northern Manitoba communities have recorded more than 600 cases of TB per 100,000.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca