inuit infants in canada’s far north have the highest rate of hospital admissions in canada, for respiratory syncytial virus (rsv), an illness that can lead to pneumonia or bronchiolitis, sometimes requiring hospitalization and life support.
many infants especially in remote communities in nunavut, wait days for air ambulances to transport them and often ending up on life support. many have long-term health issues and a number even die of this dreaded virus.
in the north, rsv season runs from january to june and during this time many inuit babies end up on life support. the stress this puts on the families is incalculable. and the hospital admission charges for inuit babies with rsv are estimated to cost the government at least $8 million a year.
dr. anna banerji
wayne cuddington/ postmedia
dr. anna banerji is trying to change the odds for these inuit infants. a professor at the university of toronto’s faculty of medicine and an infectious disease specialist, she’s dedicated her medical career to bringing decent and much needed health care to indigenous children and youth.
with years of research behind her, dr. banerji has shown that too many inuit infants become seriously ill, some succumbing to the virus even though there may be ways to curtail the disease. although there’s not a lot of data available, she noted a 2009 study, which found 205 of the 728 babies born in the communities of nunavut were admitted to the hospital with a respiratory infection in the first year of life. in the kitikmeot region, the westernmost of the three regions of nunavut, 35 per cent of the babies less than six months of age were admitted with rsv.