Stats-Can says Inuit health not so “excellent”

According to the 2006 Aboriginal Peoples Survey, about 50 per cent of Inuit adults reported that their health was either excellent or very good.
The study points at how lack of access to a medical doctor as a likely factor in that Inuit in all-age groups were not as likely to have had contact with a doctor 12 months prior to the survey. Only 56 per cent of the Inuits surveyed have had contact with a doctor in comparison to 79 per cent of the general population.
While many may not have had contact with a doctor, 7-in-10 Inuit adults living in Inuit communities had contact with a nurse.
The study itself was comprised of the 2006 census and involved 50,485 in the four Inuit regions across the North.
About 10 per cent of Inuit adults surveyed said that there were times when they required health care but did not receive it. Lack of availability and time were the most common reasons.
The report, Aboriginal Peoples Survey: Inuit health and social conditions, can be found at www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/081203/dq081203b-eng.htm