Arctic Council

Health

During 2011-2013 the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) will initiate these activities/assessments:

a) Comparative Review of Circumpolar Health Systems Report (CircHSR) (AHHEG/Canada/Greenland)
The purpose of this AHHEG project is to highlight different responses to similar challenges and focus on the effects of differing governance and organization. The first phase of this larger, multi-year project entails assembling national and regional profiles of the different health systems in Arctic countries.

Children playing in Nuuk, Greenland. Photo by Harald Finkler.

b) Arctic Human Health Initiative (AHHI) (USA)
Originally an SDWG/IPY project, AHHI succeeded at: serving as focal point for human health research, education, and communication and outreach activities. It also increased awareness and visibility of human health concerns; fostered research; and promoted strategies to improve the health and well being of Arctic residents. Ongoing AHHI projects are now integrated into the Arctic Human Health Experts Group’s (AHHEG) portfolio of human health activities.

c) International Circumpolar Surveillance (ICS) (USA)
The ICS established an infectious disease surveillance network of hospital and public health laboratories and authorities throughout Arctic regions to monitor emerging and infectious disease problems. The network collects and shares data between Arctic countries and assists in creating prevention and control strategies and is also an activity of the AHHEG.

During 2009-2011 Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) undertook the following activities:

Arctic Human Health Minister's Meeting

The Arctic Health Ministers’ Meeting held in Nuuk in February 2011, recognized the continued health challenges and noted the need to improve physical and mental health and well-being and empowerment of indigenous peoples and residents of Arctic communities. (LINK TO DECLARATION)

Hope and Resilience in Suicide Prevention Seminar (Greenland/ Denmark/Canada)

Planned and implemented in collaboration with Inuit Circumpolar Council (Greenland) and the Government of Greenland, the “Hope and Resilience in Suicide Prevention” seminar was held in Nuuk, Greenland on November 7-8, 2009. This first activity under the auspices of the SDWG Arctic Human Health Expert Group (AHHEG) brought together social workers and health practitioners, researchers, policy makers and politicians to exchange best practices aimed at reducing the number of suicides in the Arctic countries, particularly among youth. The seminar participants produced recommendations for future actions, a DVD including a video produced by the youth participants and a seminar report which was translated into Russian with funding provided by Canada.

Circumpolar Health Observatory (CircHOB) (Canada/Denmark/Greenland)

CircHOB (www.circhob.circumpolarhealth.org.) is an international collaborative health information system housed in Yellowknife, Canada. The purpose of this project is to monitor trends and patterns in health status, health determinants, and health care. It also provides a continuous knowledge base and analytical support to decision-makers, service providers, academic researchers and consumers. CircHOB promotes capacity building through training and research and has been identified by the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks initiative (SAON) as a Task. CircHob maintains a searchable and interactive databank where relevant circumpolar human health publications and statistical reports can be sourced. The website currently contains circumpolar health data for 2000-04 and the 2005-09 data updates are underway.

Circumpolar Nutrition Guide (Canada/Denmark/Greenland)

An AHHEG project and managed by the Greenland Institute for Health Research, this 2-year project assembled existing information on nutritional guidelines in circumpolar countries to inform government health agencies and community organizations on circumpolar wide nutritional approaches and structures. The final report on this project was peer reviewed and completed by AHHEG. It was published as a Circumpolar Health Supplement in the International Journal for Circumpolar Health in 2011   (http://www.ijch.fi/CHS/CHS_2011(8)).

Arctic Human Health Initiative (AHHI) (USA)

The Arctic Human Health Initiative, led by the United States, began as an International Polar Year (IPY) coordinating project to serve as a focal point for human health research, education, outreach, and communications activities. The overall goals of the AHHI are to increase awareness and visibility of human health concerns of Arctic peoples, foster human health research, and promote health strategies that improve health and well being of all Arctic residents. Following the conclusion of the IPY, 28 projects have continued under the AHHI umbrella. AHHI has now been incorporated into the Arctic Human Health Expert Group. A Circumpolar Health Supplement of the International Journal of Circumpolar Health (2010:6) describes the vision of the AHHI and the nature of its projects. The website (http://www.arctichealth.org/ahhi/) contains journal articles and other publications emerging from AHHI projects.