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NAHO Press Release

Sharing the numbers and the knowledge for health

OTTAWA, ON, September 22, 2008— Naasautit: Inuit Health Statistics is a national project to enable Inuit regional organizations and communities to make better use of existing statistics on Inuit health. In the next year the Naasautit (an Inuit language word for numbers) project will develop the tools to measure and describe the health conditions of the 50,485 Inuit in Canada.

This five-way partnership between the Ajunnginiq Centre of the National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO), the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, and the newly-created Nunatsiavut Government is pleased to announce the development of this initiative to build capacity to use reliable and credible statistical information to promote health in Inuit communities. When the naasautit.ca Web site is launched next year, Inuit and governments will better understand what the numbers mean to Inuit, leading to improved health planning and priority setting.

“This project will help fill large gaps in our understanding of health issues facing Inuit communities”, says Dianne Kinnon, director of the Ajunnginiq Centre, “because the data will be analyzed by Inuit.”

The two-year project is funded through the Aboriginal Health Transition Fund of Health Canada. To build the new capacity, the Ajunnginiq Centre at NAHO and Statistics Canada will deliver training in each of the four land claim regions. Brenda Ittungna of Inuvik is the first of four Inuit Health Analyst Interns hired. She will take part in a series of workshops in statistics and communications during the next 15 months and has already completed a six-week intensive Statistics Canada training in survey design and implementation. She is a great asset to the team that will decide what existing health data to collect, summarize and interpret.

With the ability to use health numbers to tell their stories, communities and healthcare providers will be a step closer to doing something to improve the health and well-being of Inuit living in over 50 remote Arctic settlements.

When the Inuit Health Data Analysts report on what contributes to Inuit health and what contributes to illness, Inuit will be in a better position to address those issues. Things like increased mobility, economic growth and climate change affect health and need to be better understood.

Employment, physical fitness, education, language use, food security and harvesting country foods are important community health factors too. The Naasautit team will use health statistics to show the connections that exist between these many health factors and conditions. As well, by presenting local and regional strengths or assets, such as the availability of a hockey arena or certain resource people, the Analysts may shine light on positive factors influencing health in Inuit communities.

With the Statistics Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples Survey, the Aboriginal Children’s Survey release the fall of 2008, and the Inuit Health Survey (Qanuippitaa) in Nunavik, there is a lot of information coming that needs to be shared and analyzed from an Inuit perspective. The Naasautit project will also uncover gaps in information about the Inuit population that can be collected in the future.

All four regional partners want to ensure the statistics are presented in the proper context. “There will be a lot of audience testing to make sure we get it right”, says Dianne Kinnon. “The Inuit Health Analysts are preparing to consult regional organizations on what are the most appropriate health indicators for Inuit, and what are the best ways to present the numbers.”