- \n
- Infant Mortality Rate<\/strong> (IMR) is the number of infant<\/strong> deaths per 1,000 live births<\/strong><\/li>\n
- IMR is often an indicator of overall health in a community<\/strong>, often showing unmet needs<\/strong> of sanitation<\/strong>, infrastructure<\/strong>, medical<\/strong> services<\/strong>, nutrition<\/strong>, and education<\/strong><\/li>\n
- High IMR across indigenous communities in the Arctic<\/strong> but particularly high in Nunavut, Canada\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Nunavut currently has an IMR that is five times<\/strong> that of the Canadian national average<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/524\/2021\/05\/arctic_infant_mortality-212x300.jpeg\")
Arctic infant mortality map (Turunen, 2019)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Current Health Concerns:<\/h3>\n
- \n
- A number of regions in Nunavut are only accessible by air or sea<\/strong>: 45%<\/strong> of births occur out of the territory<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Many citizens need to take an airplane to receive sufficient medical care<\/strong>, which is financially<\/strong> and logistically<\/strong> limiting<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Healthcare needs are not being met<\/strong>: currently there is a high demand for healthcare workers and hospitals<\/strong> that can provide adequate health services<\/strong><\/li>\n
- High rates of poverty<\/strong>, lower educational attainment<\/strong>, and\u00a0 the average maternal age<\/strong> trending low<\/strong> all increase<\/strong> the rates of infant mortality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Current Actions & Challenges:<\/h3>\n
- \n
- Small scale training programs<\/strong> for new healthcare workers<\/strong> in Nunavut\n
- \n
- \n
- \n
- these programs are limited by a lack of funding<\/strong> and available workers<\/strong> in the territory<\/li>\n
- has a potential to meet the high demand for healthcare workers<\/strong> but still limited by a lack of infrastructure in the region<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/524\/2021\/05\/nunavut-health-map-294x300.png\")
Map showing the necessary travel distance in order to receive medical care (2017 March Report of the Auditor General of Canada)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n - \n
- \n
- \n
- <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Limitations To Our Knowledge:<\/h3>\n
- \n
- Currently there are large gaps<\/strong> in the research that prevent access<\/strong> to a fully comprehensive understanding of the problem<\/strong><\/li>\n
- A language barrier<\/strong> makes it difficult to work with the communities to both understand<\/strong> and address the problem<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Small populations<\/strong> and land that is difficult to access<\/strong> means small sample sizes<\/strong> in research\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/524\/2021\/05\/nunanvut-airplane-300x188.jpeg\")
A medical airlift out of Nunavut (Paul Annigat via UpHere, 2018)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Policy Recommendations:<\/h3>\n
- \n
- Build more birthing centers and hospitals:\n
- \n
- \n
- \n
- work with national agencies<\/strong> and local government<\/strong> to allocate funding<\/strong> and create a plan for its continuation<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Establish medical training programs:\n
- \n
- \n
- \n
- Partner with private institutions<\/strong> that will work with local hospitals to incentivize young medical students<\/strong> to study and work in rural areas<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Give students experience in rural areas<\/strong> and a place to live in communities<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Watch a lecture on this topic to learn more:<\/h3>\n
[ensemblevideo version=”5.6.0″ content_type=”video” id=”056221a8-ca6a-41f9-a9b6-cf46136a8737″ width=”412″ height=”360″ displaytitle=”true” autoplay=”false” showcaptions=”false” hidecontrols=”true” displaysharing=”false” displaycaptionsearch=”true” displayattachments=”true” audiopreviewimage=”true” isaudio=”false” displaylinks=”true” displaymetadata=”false” displaydateproduced=”true” displayembedcode=”false” displaydownloadicon=”false” displayviewersreport=”false” embedasthumbnail=”false” displayaxdxs=”false” embedtype=”responsive” forceembedtype=”false” name=”Robyn Walker-Spencer Infant Health in Nunavut”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Living in the Arctic, particularly in a post-colonialism world, often comes with a number of challenges. Those who live in the Arctic often face higher rates of poverty, lower life expectancies, and health disparities that do not reflect their national trends. Infant health, which has long been used as an indicator of the overall health […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230,"parent":138,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-142","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/142\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/gov-2577-spring-2021-healthy-arctic-communities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Give students experience in rural areas<\/strong> and a place to live in communities<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Partner with private institutions<\/strong> that will work with local hospitals to incentivize young medical students<\/strong> to study and work in rural areas<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Establish medical training programs:\n
- work with national agencies<\/strong> and local government<\/strong> to allocate funding<\/strong> and create a plan for its continuation<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
- A language barrier<\/strong> makes it difficult to work with the communities to both understand<\/strong> and address the problem<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Currently there are large gaps<\/strong> in the research that prevent access<\/strong> to a fully comprehensive understanding of the problem<\/strong><\/li>\n
- <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- has a potential to meet the high demand for healthcare workers<\/strong> but still limited by a lack of infrastructure in the region<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- these programs are limited by a lack of funding<\/strong> and available workers<\/strong> in the territory<\/li>\n
- \n
- Many citizens need to take an airplane to receive sufficient medical care<\/strong>, which is financially<\/strong> and logistically<\/strong> limiting<\/strong><\/li>\n
- IMR is often an indicator of overall health in a community<\/strong>, often showing unmet needs<\/strong> of sanitation<\/strong>, infrastructure<\/strong>, medical<\/strong> services<\/strong>, nutrition<\/strong>, and education<\/strong><\/li>\n