Other industrialized nations with an indigenous population also
have greater rates of tuberculosis in those populations. The rate among
aboriginal populations in Australia is 6.6 per 100,000, lower than
among the Inuit in Quebec but seven times greater than the non-native
population.52 In the United States the rate of TB among Native
Americans is 6 per 100,000, 5.4 times greater than among the white
population, while in New Zealand the Maori experienced a TB rate that
was 6.9 times greater than the non-indigenous population.52 In all
these countries, the rates are several times lower than among the
Province of Quebec’s Inuit population. The increased tuberculosis rates
are a manifestation of a greater problem of poor indigenous health in
well-developed countries, which Durie53 claims is due to genetic vulnerability,
socioeconomic disadvantage, resource alienation, and political
oppression. While this may explain the global trend, it does not
explain why the situation is so much worse among the Inuit compared
to other indigenous groups worldwide.