Tuberculosis Numbers Increasing in Nunavik Communities

 

(Jo-Ann Demers, 2023)

(July 6, 2023) An annual music festival has been postponed due to a tuberculosis outbreak in northern Quebec, while the Nunavik region grapples with a series of outbreaks in several communities. Five communities in Nunavik are currently experiencing tuberculosis outbreaks. These latest outbreaks are part of a problem that continues to plague many remote northern communities, due to overcrowded housing and poverty. Although the Nunavik Regional Health and Social Services Committee did not specify which Nunavik communities were affected, Yassen Tcholakov, head of the infectious diseases unit, confirmed the number of outbreaks and said they has recorded 58 active cases in Nunavik since its inception. 

In affected communities in Nunavik, health workers are now screening individuals and in some cases entire communities. Tcholakov said they are also trying to get the message out to these communities to make people aware of the disease. “It`s something we're actively fighting for, actively working towards eliminating tuberculosis, just like other communities [and] other areas in Inuit Nunangat,” he said. The fight to eliminate tuberculosis is an ongoing battle in many Inuit regions, although a federal strategy remains in place to eliminate the disease by 2030. Tcholakov said inadequate housing is one of the challenges they are trying to address. “Obviously, tuberculosis is an infectious disease, but the root causes of tuberculosis are some of the inequities that our Nunavik people face,” he said. But problems like overcrowded housing and poverty aren't easy to solve — and Tcholakov points out that other challenges like the limited health services provided in small communities aren't easy to solve either.

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