Childbirth among the Canadian Inuit: a review of the clinical and cultural literature
Douglas VK

 

ABSTRACT [full text] [back to issue 65(2)]

 

Objectives. To describe the historical development of medical and dental care in the territory of Nunavut, Canada.

Study design. Ethnographic case study using political economy as a mode of explanation.

Methods. Participant observations, document reviews and stakeholder interviews, conducted over a four-year period.

Results. There is a clear and now long-term movement from state and professionally controlled health care delivery to Indigenous control over care.

Conclusions. Indigenous groups increasingly hold control over health care delivery through a complex form of management that straddles both public and private organisational spheres.
(Int J Circumpolar Health 2006; 65(2):101-116.)

Keywords: Aboriginal health, political economy, medical care, dental care, northern health services, history, Nunavut