ST. JOHN’S – Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are warning about an outbreak of tuberculosis within the Labrador Inuit Settlement Area.

The Nunatsiavut government and the province’s health authority issued a statement Thursday saying officials are contact tracing to identify cases and limit the spread of the disease.

Earlier this month, the group representing Inuit in Canada denounced the federal government for not renewing funding to eliminate the disease in Inuit communities.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami says tuberculosis rates in Inuit regions are more than 300 times higher than those among non-Indigenous Canadians.

In a news release, the group said the lack of new funding in the recent federal budget represented “wilful neglect of this public health emergency.”

Tuberculosis

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