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Your Health and a Changing Climate: Newsletter - Volume 6, January 2008

Policy Initiatives

International Polar Year (IPY)

On March 1, 2007, the Government of Canada officially launched International Polar Year 2007-2008 in Canada. The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 is a two year program of science, research and education focused on the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Thousands of scientists and researchers from more than 60 nations around the globe are expected to participate in IPY during the 24-month period beginning March 2007. IPY, organized through the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), is actually the fourth polar year, following those in 1882-1883, 1932-1933, and 1957-1958.

IPY will involve over 200 projects examining a wide range of physical, biological and social research topics. A total of 44 Canadian federally funded science and research projects were selected for International Polar Year 2007-2008. The projects cover a broad range of disciplines: geography, geology, history, ecology, climatology, geomorphology, anthropology, and the health sciences.

Dr. Grace Egeland of McGill University's School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition is the lead investigator for one of the health-focused research projects - "The Inuit Health Survey: Inuit Health in Transition and Resiliency." The survey will provide the first comprehensive look at the health of Inuit in Nunavut, the Western Arctic (Inuvialuit) and Labrador (Nunatsiavut). The cross-sectional survey is designed to create a baseline of health information allowing for possible future comparisons. Further, the survey will create an opportunity to link with the International Inuit Cohort, by doing a follow-up evaluation to prospectively evaluate factors leading to progression of disease in collaboration with Greenland, Nunavik (Quebec) and Alaska. The survey team traveled from village to village on the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Amundsen. From August 10 to September 25, 2007, they visited 19 communities in Nunavut. In 2008, the researchers will visit the Western Arctic (Inuvialuit) and Labrador (Nunatsiavut).

>>> For more information on IPY activities visit: www.ipy.org or www.ipy-api.ca

>>> For more information regarding the Inuit Health Survey visit: www.inuithealthsurvey.ca