Case Study: Tuberculosis In Canada

The health of Aboriginal people in Canada is both a tragedy and a crisis (Aboriginal Affairs and North Development Canada, 2010). Aboriginals have a higher rate of death among aboriginal babies, twice the national average, higher rate of Infectious diseases example gastrointestinal infections to tuberculosis, and chronic and degenerative diseases such as cancer and heart disease are affecting more aboriginal people than they once did (AANDC, 2010). Availability of important medical facility is not enough to accommodate the growing medical needs of Aboriginals. A socioeconomic and cultural issue also hinders the access of aboriginals to access health care in the community.

Although the health of some Aboriginal peoples is gradually improving, it is generally still poorer than the health of non-Aboriginal peoples living in Ontario. The Aboriginal Peoples Survey indicates that the most commonly reported chronic health conditions for Aboriginal peoples in Ontario over 15 years of age and living off reserve are: arthritis or rheumatism, high blood pressure, asthma, stomach problems, diabetes, and heart problems. (Noelle Spotton. 2001, page. 20)

Further, low income, unemployment, racism, lack of education further deteriorate their quality-of-life and well-being (Carson, Dunbar, Chenhall, & Bailie, 2007). Therefore “closing the gap” on indigenous disadvantage is crucial for archive equality in life expectancy, health status, education and employment between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians (Black & Richards, 2009).

Despite enjoying excellent health and receiving comprehensive and universal healthcare access, Canada has seen continuing healthcare inequality especially among those people living at or below the poverty level and those who are members of the Aboriginal Peoples. The greatest impact of this disparity is evidenced through earlier mortality rates and greater incidences of injury and illness. Nowhere in Canada is this more true than among the Aboriginal Peoples, who, for example, have the highest rate or and risk for Type 2 Diabetes. This risk costs Canada an additional 18 billion dollars CAD every year (Strategic Initiatives and Innovations Directorate, 2011).

The inequalities in today’s indigenous communities are still strongly evident. Heard, Khoo & Birrell (2009), argued that while there has been an attempt in narrowing the gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians, a barrier still exists in appropriate health care reaching indigenous people. The Indigenous people believe, health is more than the individual, it is

In general, Aboriginal health services are ineffective. This is due to a wide variety of factors, but mainly due to a lack of trust/cultural miscommunication which is a catalyst for many other factors. This lack of engagement is due to a variety of factors, such as lack of access to health care, lack of aboriginal representation in the health workforce, ect. Overall, the difference in mortality rates between indigenous and non-indogneous peoples proves to highlight the need in the health community to provide effective services for Aboriginal people.

Tuberculosis is among the fatal diseases that are spread through the air. It’s contagious, meaning that it spreads from one infected individual to another, and at times it spreads very fast. In addition to being contagious, the disease is an opportunist infection as it takes advantage of those with weak defense mechanism, and especially the ones with terminal diseases like HIV and AIDS. Tuberculosis is therefore among the major concerns for the World Health Organization due to its contagious nature (World Health Organization 1).

Tuberculosis is a deadly disease that is now affecting our world and the people living in it in a horrible way. Due to many factors such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, and lack of health care, many third world and developing countries have been left very vulnerable to tuberculosis. It is affecting a large part of these countries and is leading them deeper into poverty and sickness. The effort to help these countries against tuberculosis has only been slightly effective against this widespread and destructive disease.

Many factors are there which negatively affect the health of aboriginal people in Canada. It includes poverty, several generational effects of colonization and residential schools. One obstacle to good health lies squarely in the lap of health care system itself. Many aboriginal people are not accepting health care system because they don’t have trust on them. They do not feel safe from racism and stereotyping. Main reason is that the Western approach to health care can feel isolated and scary. Cultural competency has a beneficial effect on health care. It creates safe environment for aboriginal people, which is free from racism and stereotype. It treats aboriginal people with respect, dignity and empathy. Culturally effective

Canada has had many events where tuberculosis was having an outbreak in 1924 through 1948, but since then it has been decreasing. We have dealt with this problem back in 2012 where an outbreak of tuberculosis infected 8% of the individuals in the extremely small Northern Quebec community of Kangiqsualujjuaq. After the outbreak The Public Health Agency of Canada is running over to discover the origin of the outburst its spread. Officials are also bringing up more additional resources to the place, such as a mobile x-ray machine. Tuberculosis is a disease caused by bacteria that travel from person to person. A person who is infected with tuberculosis, but does not show any symptoms at all may have dormant tuberculosis and can still transmit

Tuberculosis at one point was a very serious and life threatening disease. Fortunately, according to the Canadian Lung Association, in Canada, TB is not very common. In 2008, there had been 1600 cases of TB (2014). In Canada, TB is most

Tuberculosis is the one of the world’s second deadliest disease; having killed around 1.5 million people in the year 2013, second only to HIV/AIDS. Around 3 million cases, which equates to one-third of the global total, go undiagnosed and hundreds more cases are considered to be a drug-resistant form of the disease. A search done on the New York Times’ website turns up 10 articles with the word “tuberculosis” in the headline published over the past 12 months while “HIV and AIDS” turns up 91 articles (Gould, 2015). The sad reality is that tuberculosis is not given enough attention compared to other well-known diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis is considered a disease of the past and not an immediate threat to developed nations; not to mention that it is just not profitable route for the health care industry to pursue. Although, when processing all this information, we tend to forget that HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis go hand-in-hand, as tuberculosis is an opportunistic disease for AIDS patients in sub-Saharan Africa and workers/patients in medical and correctional facilities.

This section highlights the extent and dimensions of tuberculosis, important determinants, and the health system and/or public health program initiatives that are in place to address the issues.

Tuberculosis is a major pandemic all across the world. It mainly effects the lungs but can spread to other organs. It is a bacterial infection that can be treated. Tuberculosis germs are spread through the air through coughing, sneezing, or spitting. It takes very few of these germs to breathed in to get this disease. About a third of people have latent tuberculosis which is when you have been infected by it but you 're not yet sick. you also can not transmit the disease to other people when you have latent tuberculosis. Millions of lives have been saved by diagnosing on time and correctly treating tuberculosis. Latent tuberculosis is treated by a 9 month one drug treatment while active tuberculosis is treated by a normal 4 drug 6 month treatment. (NA october 2014)

Still tuberculosis remains one of the most leading cause of morbidity and mortality among many developing countries. After the revolution of chemotherapy in the 1940s and modification of the standardized short courses in the 1980s, there was a believe that tuberculosis well be declined internationally. This declined was obvious in the developed countries but it was not evident in the developing countries. TB continues to be an international problem for many reasons including: