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NUNAVUT
Data that doctors collect about new mothers and their children will now be used to monitor the health of Nunavut's children, the government announced July 24 in Iqaluit.

Napatchie Goupil introduces 18-day-old daughter Abigail to chief medical officer of health Geraldine Osborne during an event announcing the government's new Nutaqqavut Health Information System to track the health of children from conception to age five. - Casey Lessard/NNSL

The Nutaqqavut Health Information System, developed over the past five years, will extract data from medical charts to build statistical charts regarding overall and specific health concerns.

"While it is true that most children in Nunavut are born healthy, there are still quite a few where this is not the case," said Dr. Geraldine Osborne, Nunavut's chief medical officer of health. "We know that our infant mortality rate is three times the national rate, we know that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is six times the Canadian rate, we know that our birth defects are twice the national rate. Preterm delivery and low birth-weight babies are also higher than the national rate."

To understand the causes of these disparities, population data is critical, Osborne said.

"We need to be able to track and evaluate our rates and trends," she said. "Underlying these statistics is the social determinants of health, so the pervasive low income, overcrowding, poor nutrition, high cost of food. We need to be able to identify what are the risk factors and what are the protective factors in maternal and child health."

The new system will collect a sub-set of data for statistical purposes, and for creating dynamic solutions to health problems faced by Nunavut's children. Information collected might include how many prenatal visits the mother has attended and the ability of a mother to access proper nutrition.

Analysts could use the information, for example, to see if the rate of miscarriages is higher in one community, and then look for a reason. The blend of medical evaluation with health promotion will create a dynamic system that can respond and improve outcomes for mothers and children, said pediatrician Dr. Laura Arbour, who led the development of the system.

"If a health care provider is saying, I wonder if we're doing a good enough job with encouraging and supporting women with breastfeeding, what are the rates," Arbour said. "We'll be able to answer that question so they can immediately act on the care they think is important."

Most comparable systems stop at one month or one year, Arbour said, whereas Nunavut's will gather information until a child is at school. Personal information about patients will never be made public.

"As soon as the information comes in, the name is separated," Arbour said. "This is really about the health of the population, and only information put together that would be important for Nunavut will ever be released."

Her team started collecting data last July, the database was ready last fall, and data entry started this spring. The first data will be released this fall.

The system's software development cost was budgeted at $220,000, plus annual salaries to develop and maintain the system. For Osborne, it's a very low cost - compared to other jurisdictions - for a safe, valuable, and easy to maintain system.

"Investment in maternal and child health pays off huge dividends in terms of the health and well-being of communities," she said.

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