A century of adventure in northern health

Fortuine, R; Nighswander, Thomas

doi:10.3402/ijch.v65i4.18113

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Pre-existing conditions that exacerbate the vulnerability of Arctic residents include geographic barriers that limit access to health services, underdeveloped civic infrastructure, larger populations with underlying medical conditions (such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, tuberculosis, hepatitis, obesity), lower socioeconomic status, inadequate housing, poor sanitation, lack of clean water, etc 22 23. Due to these challenges, previous pandemics such as smallpox, cholera, the 1918 influenza, tuberculosis and the 2009 H1N1 influenza had a disproportionate impact on the Arctic and its residents, especially its Indigenous population 22 24 25…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incorporating resilience when assessing pandemic risk in the Arctic: a case study of Alaska

et al. 2023

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The discourse on vulnerability to COVID-19 or any other pandemic is about the susceptibility to the effects of disease outbreaks. Over time, vulnerability has been assessed through various indices calculated using a confluence of societal factors. However, categorising Arctic communities, without considering their socioeconomic, cultural and demographic uniqueness, into the high and low continuum of vulnerability using universal indicators will undoubtedly result in the underestimation of the communities’ capacity to withstand and recover from pandemic exposure. By recognising vulnerability and resilience as two separate but interrelated dimensions, this study reviews the Arctic communities’ ability to cope with pandemic risks. In particular, we have developed a pandemic vulnerability–resilience framework for Alaska to examine the potential community-level risks of COVID-19 or future pandemics. Based on the combined assessment of the vulnerability and resilience indices, we found that not all highly vulnerable census areas and boroughs had experienced COVID-19 epidemiological outcomes with similar severity. The more resilient a census area or borough is, the lower the cumulative death per 100 000 and case fatality ratio in that area. The insight that pandemic risks are the result of the interaction between vulnerability and resilience could help public officials and concerned parties to accurately identify the populations and communities at most risk or with the greatest need, which, in turn, helps in the efficient allocation of resources and services before, during and after a pandemic. A resilience–vulnerability-focused approach described in this paper can be applied to assess the potential effect of COVID-19 and similar future health crises in remote regions or regions with large Indigenous populations in other parts of the world.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%