Expressions of Intent for IPY 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

CANADA #104: A study of the impact of changing environments, society, and climate on health and disease among the Inuit and Yupik of the circumpolar North  (The International Inuit Cohort Study)

Outline
This baseline survey will be carried out among people aged 18 and over with Inuit/Yupik ancestry from across the Alaskan, Canadian, Greenlandic North and Chukotka. It aims to recruit 12,000 participants. During a 4-5 hour visit, participants will be interviewed, participate to a medical and para clinical examination and have a blood sample drawn. The study will focus on diet but include other lifestyle factors that are known to have an effect on chronic disease status, such as smoking, contaminant exposure, physical exercise, and a number of social and cultural factors. . This will give a cross-sectional description of the associations between the environment, living conditions, life style, risk factors and existing disease status among these populations. The cross sectional baseline survey will provide us with a solid base upon which to asses the positive and negative effects of current northern diets however will not be able to delineate cause- effect relationships between these factors. Inuit and Yupik populations live scattered over a vast area and in many cases are located in difficult to access villages. For many of the smaller communities, especially in Greenland and Canada, the most cost-effective strategy for travel to multiple coastal communities is a ship. We will used the NGCC Amundsen throughout our research program ArcticNet (www.arcticnet .ulaval.ca), a research ice-breaker with all the necessary laboratory and examination facilities and we will tour the coast of West Greenland and the Eastern Canadian Arctic in Fall 2006 and repeat the work in the Beaufort Sea in 2008 (Alaska, Inuvik region and Chukotka in Russia). The possibilities for inviting media personnel and artists to join the expedition will be considered in order to facilitate cultural exchange between the communities and countries visited. We also plan major activities for training Inuit students from the four countries with the collaboration of our Nasivvik Center (ACADRE/IAPH-CIHR Center) (www.nasivvik.ulaval.ca). For more information, please see our pilot study in 2004 in Nunavik (www.qanuippitaa.com).

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
We will investigate the impacts on health of global changes in the Arctic (societal, environmental and climate). We will follow a cohort of 12,000 Inuit participants and first assess their health and risk factor status (including environmental contaminants). We then will follow the changes in their health over time and the influence of dietary, environmental etc. changes in the emergence of new diseases. The knowledge on the importance of contaminants and nutritional factors in chronic diseases emergence is crucial for all populations in the Arctic and elsewhere. The human dimension is crucial in this project as we will investigate the role of socio cultural factors as determinants of health.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
Our team is international with health researchers from Denmark/Greenland, Canada, Alaska/USA and Russia. We work with these colleagues through AMAP programs and other research activities (ArcticNet) already. Further, we are supported by ICC and other aboriginal national organizations (ITK).

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
The field work on the Amundsen will start from West Greenland, Arctic Canada, Alaska and Chukotka. It will include the entire Inuit homeland in these countries.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 05/05 – 10/09            
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
We will have 60 % of ship time which will be provided by ArcticNet and are requiring funds to purchase the other 40%. We plan to use 80% of the 45 scientific berths during the cruise time. We will also embark (secure to the ship) our mobile laboratory Atlantis (www.atlantis.ulaval.ca) which will also be available for other researchers’ use.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
Yes the proposed work will leave a legacy of infrastructure as we plan to transfer easy to use techniques developed for our mobile laboratory (Atlantis) to assess environmental and health parameters (drinking water, contaminants etc) to small Inuit communities. We plan to train and equip several communities for these issues.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
Own national polar operator
Another national polar operator
National agency
Other sources of support

The logistic (Ice breaker) will be partially supported by our ArcticNet network and the Canadian Coast Guard. Our Atlantis laboratory is owned by Laval University.

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
Our project is supported internationally by AMAP, IUCH, ICC (Raipon, ICC-Greenland, ICC-Canada) and ITK in Canada. It is also supported by CIHR (Canada) and will be proposed to NIH. This pre-proposal has been reviewed and is being submitted by the Canadian Steering Committee (CSC). Ongoing discussions will integrate this pre-proposal into a larger network of related national and international initiatives. The CSC has initially sorted this pre-proposal into: Healthy and Sustainable Communities: Healthy Communities

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
Expansion
This project was designed 3 years ago as a combination of 4 national studies. We are now proposing to merge these component in one large international program using innovative infrastructures (mobile lab and icebreaker) and including the exchange of Inuit students and other capacity building activities as part of the program.

How will the project be organised and managed?
he projects will be managed through ArcticNet which already has a management structure and includes Inuit and international representation on its Management Board and Board of Directors. Training will be managed through Nasivvik which includes Inuit representation on its Advisory Board. Funds will be transferred to all researchers to conduct their work.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
Based on our pilot study (Fall 2004) and with the help of our Nasivvik center which has the responsibility to train Inuit students as well as the collaboration of ICC and ITK, we plan the following activities: 1) Science camp (intro to Arctic environmental health) on the ice breaker for Inuit students from all 4 countries. This includes training in the Atlantis labs which will be onboard (a similar training program was run in Nunavik in the fall of 2004) 2) Technical training for Inuit professionals or senior students (drinking water microbiology, mercury analyses) using simple techniques. Technology transfer in communities. 3) International intern program for medical students from the 4 countries (a similar program was run on the recent Nunavik cruise) 4) Film documentation of the study, community perspectives, training and science for the general public with Glacialis production 5) Community talk show (radio call-in) as was done in Nunavik in each village to communicate about the study. 6) Web site production and management for updated communication with schools etc on the cruise progress as was done(www.qanuippitaa.com) this year

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document)?
The project will be managed under ArcticNet (www.arcticnet.ulaval.ca) which has its own management structure and is already transferring money to different researchers around the globe. Most of our researchers are already part of ArcticNet. Our organizations are Laval University, McGill University, University of Toronto, University of Alaska, Danish Public Health Institute, Centre for Arctic Medicine, Aarhus and ICC Canada, ICC Greenland and ITK. This structure includes consideration for data ownership and management including shared ownership with Inuit organizations. q3_5_Funding : We expect the following (in CAD $): 800K of ship time in 2006 and 800K in 2008 is coming from ArcticNet: 1.6M$ 1500K for Canada (contaminants issues over 5 years by NCP/DIAND Canada) and 600K (120K/year) for Greenland(Danish EPA-AMAP): 2.1M$ 500K from CIHR (Canada) and 1M$ from NIH (Already obtained for the pilot project in Nunavik in 2004 and not part of this proposal (1000 participants): ArticNet 980K, NCP-DIAND: 750K, CIHR: 220K, Québec Govnt: 1,800K: total: 3.750K$) Total expected potential funds: 5.2 M$ for a total budget of 22M$ over 5 years (2005-2009) around 3.360K$/year for a total requested of 16.8M$

How is it proposed to fund the project?

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
In fall 2004 , we visited 14 communities in Nunavik. All feedback and response from communities on this scientific trip was from communities and individuals in the region was extremely positive. In this survey, we had a participation rate of 90%. We trained young Inuit and students from the South as part of the study. We produced a film, and we achieved a very high level of scientific excellence. It was a highly visible project which dealt mainly with Arctic human issues and the future of Arctic populations. We feel that it is an excellent candidate for an IPY study for these reasons.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr  Eric Dewailly
945, rue Wolfe, Sainte-Foy, QC,


G1V 5B3
Canada

Tel: 418 650 5115 ext 5240
Mobile:
Fax: 418 654 2148
Email:

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