It’s been a huge last few weeks for our campaign to get #FairMedicine for Inuit babies. Last Monday, I travelled to Ottawa to meet with several key government decision makers and deliver more than 65,000 signatures — including yours!

The meeting was an important step in getting this issue in front of the people who have the power to fix this injustice. But we are entering the most dangerous time of year and we need urgent action to protect babies this winter.

Last week,  I met with Dr Tom Wong, Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer of Public Health at Indigenous Services Canada, and Dr Michael Patterson, Chief Medical Officer of Health in Nunavut.

I presented my research that demonstrates the incredible risk faced by Inuit babies. During winter, some communities in Nunavut see two out of every three babies hospitalized, mostly because of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Babies can die from this.

This a terrible problem with a simple solution: provide Inuit babies with a highly effective preventative medicine called palivizumab that’s already given to other high-risk babies in Canada. It’s that simple. And this preventative action is cheaper than the emergency treatment often needed when babies succumb to RSV.

Despite a mountain of evidence, Dr. Michael Patterson continues to say that there is not enough evidence to expand the RSV antibody to Inuit babies in the communities. Here are some of the facts with the links to the peer-reviewed papers.

Rates of admission in Inuit babies [click here to see data tables]:

• In 1995 a paper documented that about 1/3 babies on Baffin Island were admitted to the hospital with a LRTI, and if you were admitted to the hospital then you had 13% chance of needing life support,
• 1997/98 The study found that if a baby was less then 6 months of age during the study period then they had about 50% chance of being admitted to hospital on Baffin Island with a LRTI. https://www.cmaj.ca/content/164/13/1847.short
• A 5-year chart review of admissions found that almost 60% of the babies from the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut were admitted with LRTI. Most of these babies were term without underlying health problems https://academic.oup.com/pch/article/12/7/563/2647939
• Canada’s only case-control study in the Artic found that almost 40% of the babies in the rural communities on Baffin Island were admitted to the hospital with RSV https://journals.lww.com/pidj/Abstract/2009/08000/Risk_Factors_and_Viruses_Associated_With.8.aspx

I’m encouraged that health officials want to dive deeper into the data in a follow-up meeting. At the same time, I’m frustrated that this is taking so long because we simply don’t have a moment to lose. The deadly winter season has started early with one baby from Nunavut already evacuated to Ottawa for emergency treatment.

We’re fortunate that the solution to this crisis is within our reach — so let’s fix this now.  Please share this petition with your networks.

Thank you for your support,

Dr Anna Banerji