Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am proud to announce that this week the NWT is hosting its first ever STOP TB conference. The aim of this two-day conference is to educate our frontline health care providers about diagnosing, treating and preventing the spread of this infectious bacterial disease.

The tuberculosis rate in our territory has remained five to 10 times above the national average over the past decade. It is especially troubling that TB rates are highest among our aboriginal population. The disease spreads through the air and can infect anyone. As Members know, this can be very serious.

In 2001, the Department of Health and Social Services developed an action plan to strengthen TB management and control in the NWT and this includes increasing public awareness about TB, enhancing training for primary health care workers, and ensuring public health resources are available to support the TB Program.

The Department of Health and Social Services and the NWT Medical Association are co-sponsoring this conference and over 160 physicians, nurses and other health care providers from the NWT, Nunavut and Yukon are in attendance.

This conference is an opportunity to educate all of the attendees about the disease of tuberculosis, the NWT TB Program infrastructure and specific northern resources for diagnosis, treatment and community efforts towards TB control.

One of the key speakers at this conference will be Dr. Anne Fanning, a TB expert, who has done two external reviews of our TB Program. Dr. Fanning recently concluded her second evaluation of the TB Program and indicated while there are still challenges for the elimination of tuberculosis in the NWT, such as the need to diagnose the cases in the early stage of disease, significant improvements have been made. Dr. Fanning’s report notes, “The recommendations are made in the light of the excellent progress to date and the likelihood that the NWT will soon enter the era of TB elimination. They address two areas of need: education and staffing. They recognize the need to use resources efficiently, but to sustain and strengthen surge capacity for TB control”

As such, this conference will allow the opportunity to present evidence of recommended standards of practice, thus informing clinicians how to diagnose disease and intercept the continued spread of this airborne infectious disease.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the work that is being done to fight this disease and the need for continued vigilance. We are providing training and orientation to health care workers at all levels, including doctors, nurses, community health representatives and TB workers.

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the work that has been done, but it is clear that we still have a long way to go. With this important TB conference, I hope we can continue this work and lower our TB rates to zero. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause