Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about early childhood development and the impacts of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. I'd like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he could update the House on what activities or what work has been going on at the national level in this area of FASD? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, the national level Ministers responsible for Health and Social Services or Persons with Disabilities, get together on an annual basis. There's actually a side group been established to work on issues related to FASD. We fund the national FASD Research Group that goes out and pulls together data and helps develop promotional materials to encourage people to abstain from drinking while pregnant. As the Member said earlier, FASD is 100 per cent preventable but not curable. So they're doing a significant amount of work.
Next year, the Northwest Territories will be taking the lead on that FPT group; it will be the lead responsible for the FASD network over the following year.
Mr. Speaker, that's very good news that the NWT will be taking the lead in this. Can the Minister advise the House what is available right now in the area of programming and so on for FASD?
Mr. Speaker, across the Government of the Northwest Territories there's a wide range of programs and services available for children living with disabilities. Specifically related to FASD, the Stanton Territorial Hospital Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Family and Community Support Program has been established and it basically conducts diagnostic clinics to screen and diagnose FASD in children between the ages of seven and 17.
This team consists of doctors, psychologists, occupational therapists and other speech language therapists who can work with these children and help identify their limitations and help develop individual plans for care. At the same time, Education, Culture and Employment through their inclusive schooling has support workers in schools who can work with individuals who have been diagnosed or not diagnosed as the case may be, to develop individual care plans to help them through the school system. So there is a wide variety of things that are happening out there.
Can the Minister advise the House how much money has been spent on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder programs in the GNWT?
I don't have at my fingertips the cost of the Stanton Territorial Hospital program that I previously mentioned, and I'll certainly get that information for the Member and committee, but we do provide money to different organizations across the Northwest Territories, not specifically for FASD but for children who are struggling with a range of disabilities which can and often does include FASD. So what I'll do is I'll pull together some of that information and I'll share it with the Member and with Committee of the Whole.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. It would be nice to know the trend of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Can the Minister tell the House if they know the prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd love to say yes, but I can't, obviously. There are a lot of adults out there who were never diagnosed and we don't have the clinical diagnosis for them, so there probably are individuals who are FASD who have never been accurately diagnosed.
I could get some information for the Member on the number that have been diagnosed through the Stanton program so that we have some current numbers, but there isn't a real solid set of information out there on the exact numbers that would exist in the Northwest Territories. But I will provide what I can to the Members across the hall.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
