With dementia rates projected to rise, northerners call for better elder care in Nunavut - Nunatsiaq News | Canada News Media
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With dementia rates projected to rise, northerners call for better elder care in Nunavut – Nunatsiaq News

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Study projects rates among Indigenous people in Canada to go up by 273 per cent by 2050

Dementia cases among Indigenous people in Canada could spike in coming decades, warns the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

The society released a study Jan. 22 that found the number of dementia cases among this demographic is estimated to increase by 273 per cent by 2050, as opposed to 187 per cent among the general population of Canada.

The reason has a lot to do with age. Fewer than five per cent of Indigenous people in Canada were over the age of 65 in 2005. That number will be closer to 15 per cent by 2036, the study said.

It includes no data specific to Nunavut, said Dr. Joshua Armstrong, a research scientist with Alzheimer Society of Canada and lead author of the report.

He said the North wasn’t included in the study because the group that did the modelling wasn’t confident with the data from the territories.

The number-one risk factor for dementia is old age, according to Armstrong.

“We often think about Indigenous populations as being younger, but if you look at the demographic data there is a growing number of people over the age of 65,” he said.

While this may be true for the broader Indigenous population, Statistics Canada census data from 2021 indicates Nunavut has a different demographic makeup.

There are roughly 40,000 people in Nunavut, with 12,000 of them under 14 and nearly 10,000 between the ages of 15 and 30. The study projects to 2050, when more than half of Nunavut’s population will still be 57 or younger.

Age, however, isn’t the only dementia risk, according to the study.

It noted that socioeconomic circumstances, health, racism and colonization can play roles in higher rates of dementia among Indigenous populations.

Dr. Joshua Armstrong is an Alzheimer Society of Canada researcher and lead author of the study that found dementia among Indigenous people of Canada will almost triple in the coming decades. (Photo courtesy Dr. Joshua Armstrong)

It’s still a growing area of research, Armstrong said, “but the idea is that racism … chronic racism, racism on a daily basis, leads to chronic stress.

“And it’s been long known that chronic stress has a negative impact on the brain … which then leads to dementia outcomes as people get older.”

Even if Nunavut doesn’t see the same spike in dementia cases that could occur in other places, there are currently no specialized supports in the territory for people living with it.

Ottawa’s Embassy West long-term care centre has 70 Nunavummiut elders, the majority of whom have a diagnosis of dementia, said Department of Health spokesperson Danarae Sommerville. She did not provide exact numbers.

Anne Crawford, an elder-care advocate and legal representative for the Iqaluit Elders Society, said having to leave home is bad for those with dementia.

“What people need is familiar surroundings, regular regularity and predictability of people you’re in contact with, and of events and repetition of things that you already know,” she said.

“Aging in place is the best possible choice.”

Crawford called on the Nunavut government to sponsor the training and development of psychologists from northern communities, so in turn better dementia diagnosis and treatment is available in the North.

Nunavut MP Lori Idlout agrees, saying neither the federal government nor the GN are doing enough to keep elders in their home communities.

She spoke about the issue in 2021 in the House of Commons and Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal said at the time he’d be happy to hold discussions with her on the topic. This has not yet happened, Idlout told Nunatsiaq News this week.

Idlout called the practice of sending Inuit elders south for long-term care a type of exile.

“It’s bad enough that they’ve experienced many atrocities throughout their lifetimes,” she said, adding both levels of government could do things like make sure families are trained to take care of their elders who have specific needs, like dementia.

A 24-bed elders facility in Rankin Inlet is expected to be completed later this year. It will accommodate people with dementia, although it’s not clear how much of that specialized capacity it will have.

There are two more elder-care facilities planned for Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay, but the GN did not provide a timeline for their completion.

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Canada to donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to combat mpox outbreaks in Africa

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The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.

It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.

Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”

Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.

Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.

On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.

Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”

But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”

“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.

Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.

Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.

Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.

“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.

“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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How many Nova Scotians are on the doctor wait-list? Number hit 160,000 in June

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HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.

The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.

Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.

“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”

The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.

A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.

Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.

“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.

Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.

The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.

“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

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Newfoundland and Labrador monitoring rise in whooping cough cases: medical officer

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.

Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.

The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.

“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.

Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.

Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.

A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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