SIOUX LOOKOUT – A pair of report from the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority are highlighting ongoing inequities in health outcomes for First Nations in Northwestern Ontario.
The numbers show the need for increased resources to support diabetes and vaccination programs, SLFNHA says, attributing stalled progress to a lack of sustainable funding and health care staffing shortages.
The reports - one focused on diabetes, and the other on childhood vaccine coverage - are available at SLFNHA's website under the heading "Health Status Reports."
Between 2008 and 2019, lower limb amputations among Sioux Lookout First Nation have doubled, SLFNHA reported. Vaccination rates have also fallen significantly below the provincial and national targets, allowing the risks of preventable diseases in the communities.
“We are calling on the federal and provincial governments to provide us with a plan to increase support for food security, food sovereignty, and improved health services for our northern First Nations. The burden of illness is increasing and the disparity between northern First Nations and Ontario is growing,” said Janet Gordon, SLFNHA's acting president.
According to the report, there are several reasons why First Nations communities have higher rates of diabetes.
“Underlining all those factors are both intergenerational and ongoing trauma from colonization, and racist Canadian policies and legislation,” the diabetes report states.
The report also states that among First Nations families within Sioux Lookout receiving social assistance, 83 per cent of their household income goes directly to food and household costs. Inflation in First Nations communities significantly outpaced that in municipalities in Northwestern Ontario bewteen 2005 and 2016, SLFNHA said.
As for vaccination rates, SLFNHA's report states that 81 to 84 per cent of two-year-old children were fully vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella, and 68-73 per cent of two-year-old children were fully vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Hib.
“However, this still falls short of national targets. Within the communities served by the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority, these rates are even lower,” as stated in the report.
According to the Childhood Vaccination Report, the national goal is 95 percent.
SLFNHA confirms that both reports reaffirm the major healthcare gaps in First Nations communities. Critical staffing shortages and a lack of sustainable funding that has persisted forces SLFNHA to ask the provincial and federal government to act now in addressing these health inequalities.
