Dr. Anna Banerji knows from what she speaks. An Order of Ontario recipient, associate professor of pediatrics and director of global and indigenous health at the University of Toronto and a pediatric infectious tropical disease specialist, she is a well respected medical doctor who has dedicated her career to bringing much-needed health care to indigenous youth. When she speaks, people should listen. But they don’t.
Banerji has spent years in Nunavut, working with Inuit babies and documenting her work. She has demonstrated that too many Inuit infants are dying or become deathly ill due to an almost wilful blindness to therapies that can help them.
Inuit infants in Canada’s North have the highest rate of hospital admissions for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the world. RSV manifests itself in acute respiratory distress, as a result of lower respiratory tract infections. Many infants, especially in remote communities, wait days for air ambulances, often ending up on life support. Many develop long-term health issues as a result and a number succumb to this dreaded virus.
According to a recent media release detailing this medical urgency, “during RSV season intensive care units in Canada’s North fill up with Inuit babies on life support. The average age of the infants is three months.” The stress this puts on the families is incalculable. The hospital costs are enormous.
Yet it need not be this way. A vaccine known as palivizumab can prevent the disease and Banerji has shown that it is highly effective in Inuit babies. But it comes with a catch: the vaccine costs around $7,000 per infant per year. It is therefore restricted to babies who are known to be at high risk, mainly babies born prematurely and those with cardiac and chronic respiratory disease.
Shockingly, in Nunavut, Inuit babies are not classified as high risk, despite evidence to the contrary. Indeed, Inuit babies are 10 times more likely to be admitted to hospital with RSV than babies in other groups. They also have higher rates of complications and are admitted to the intensive care unit more often. And yet, they are not eligible for the medicine that would clearly prevent RSV admissions.
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Many of Banerji’s colleagues are stunned at this lack of care. So much so that a petition (change.org/fairmedicine) recently garnered 51,000 signatures.
Nunavut officials claim there is still not enough proof that the vaccine is effective, even though, according to Banerji, “The vaccine is given to numerous at-risk populations at lower risk for RSV admission around the world safely and effectively.” Ironically, evidence suggests the territorial government could actually save money by administering the vaccine more often.
On a more positive note, I’m proud to report that thanks to the generosity of Alexandra and Brad Krawczyk, and the efforts of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, Anishnawbe Health Toronto, a community health centre that serves the city’s aboriginal population, has almost attained its dream of a new building.
Alexandra Krawczyk is the daughter of the late Barry and Honey Sherman. Herself a public health nurse who has worked with First Nations in Canada’s North, she is all too aware of the lack of health resources in the region. Her $2 million donation through the Krawczyk Family Foundation, along with $100,000 from a former Anishnawbe health client and many others, has brought this centre a step closer to completion.
As 2019 comes to a close, let us celebrate the work of Anishnawbe Health Toronto. But let’s not forget those Inuit babies whose struggle for life and health deserves our loud attention.
