The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in over half a billion cases and over six million deaths worldwide. In the United States, preliminary estimates indicate that nearly two years of life expectancy have been lost due to Covid-19, with disparately greater effects among racial and ethnic minorities. Covid-19 has hit Indigenous communities especially hard. This session will examine preliminary mortality data among Indigenous peoples in the countries (US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) represented in the International Group for Indigenous Health Measurement (IGIHM). The analysis will include a focus on excess deaths due to Covid. This session builds on past work analyzing information on how Indigenous communities have fared in the pandemic. These countries have experienced different waves at different times and have different vaccination efforts and coverages. Yet, Indigenous peoples in these countries are unique within their respective countries, due to greater heath disparities and, often, greater community resilience. These factors will be reflected in Indigenous mortality rates compared to the general population in their respective countries. Specifically, four papers will be presented from the four IGIHM countries with a fifth analyzing differences in mortality and mortality measures among the four countries. KEYWORDS: Indigenous peoples, COVID-19, Mortality rates, Health measurement, International Group for Indigenous Health Measurement

This session will explore the recent mortality experience of the Indigenous peoples of the four countries, with a particular focus on the impact of covid-19.  The four countries present interesting contrasts in experience, ranging from the enormous number of covid-19 deaths - both Indigenous and non-Indigenous - in the United States to relatively small numbers of deaths in Australia and New Zealand.  The speakers will review the various Indigenous risk factors that make Indigenous populations particularly at-risk for covid-19 infection.  Speakers also will present data on the very different experiences across countries in vaccination coverage and availability of various types of vaccine.  They will explore the advantage held by island nations in establishing a national quarantine.  The presentations will consider some advantages that Indigenous populations possess in dealing with covid-19, such as the use of tribal hierarchy in winning acceptance of covid-19 vaccine.  

The presentations will also describe the many other health challenges of these Indigenous populations, including significant differences in life expectancy as compared to the non-Indigenous populations of each country.  The presentations will also consider the many statistical challenges inherent in any attempt to measure Indigenous mortality, including the difficulties in establishing Indigenous identity and the small number problems inherent in these small populations, among others.  As for covid-19 mortality in particular, the lack of access to health care for Indigenous, in particular in the United States, presents a special challenge in determining the actual impact of covid-19.  Some of the presentations will include an analysis of excess deaths as a means of estimating the true impact of covid-19 on Indigenous mortality.

Organiser: Mr Francis Notzon 

Chair: Ms Michele Connolly 

Speaker: Dr Kalinda Elizabeth Griffiths  

Discussant: Dr Jonathan Dewar