Trying to save lives from cancer in multiple Inuktut languages
Five-year marketing campaign in five dialects targets Inuit to prevent deaths
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, April 13, 2015
IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
When Annie Buchan was growing up in Taloyoak, cancer was a death sentence.
"When I first heard of cancer, it was an incurable disease," Buchan said. "We've had a lot of deaths related to cancer, especially in the past, in the early '60s. I lost quite a few of my relatives to cancer, especially lung cancer. It used to be an elder's disease but now it seems like we see more young people affected by cancer."
The shift in understanding of what cancer is among Inuit people and the changing way it is affecting a broader population requires a change in perception. So does the idea that cancer is incurable.
"There's a lot of misunderstanding and lack of understanding of cancer itself," she said. "A better understanding of cancer can reduce fear and empower Inuit to seek health-care services sooner. Early diagnosis and treatment means a better outcome. We have the services now in our communities that can help us."
Buchan is the vice-president of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, which is partnering again with the Canadian Cancer Society to get the message out through Inuit language literature that helps people facing the disease and their families and community members.
"We feel it's really important that we have literature in Inuit language that we are able to understand, which would not be so technical like the medical terminology," she said. "We're working to put it in a clean language that people can understand easily."
The partners received $1.4 million from Jaguar Land Rover Canada to fund a five-year marketing campaign targeting Inuit across Canada, but especially in the North.
"The cancer death rate among Inuit is very high, and we want to change this," said Canadian Cancer Society assistant director of cancer information Tracy Torchetti. "There are so many factors that contribute to high cancer rates among Inuit including things like tobacco and alcohol use, diet, and so on. But low cancer awareness and limited access to cancer information are also factors when that information isn't created for Inuit, either because they're not culturally appropriate or written in Inuktitut."
Materials about the types of cancer, screening and early detection, care and treatment will be produced in five Inuktut dialects.
"We'll also be creating materials for health-care providers to help them deliver cancer information more effectively to Inuit, so things like information about Inuit culture and attitudes about cancer and cancer treatment," Torchetti said. "Finally, we'll be conducting training sessions to help increase awareness among healthcare providers, medical interpreters, patient educators and navigators, just to ensure people are aware of what materials are available and how they can be used."
She recommends people get in the habit of going to a doctor on a regular basis, even while healthy, for checkups including tests to check for cancer. Smoking is a top risk factor, she said.
"We know that in Nunavut, the rate of daily smoking is over three times that of other Canadians," Torchetti said. "Smoking is related not only to lung cancer, but also cervical and colorectal cancers, all of which are rising among Inuit."
She said cancer affects more than the patient, as family and community members cope with the fallout of a diagnosis, since an understanding of the treatment options and odds of recovery can help everyone cope.
