International Union for Circumpolar Health Ministry of Public Health and Social Development of RF Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Medical Polar Fund “Science” The Northern Forum

Abstracts

Ethnic peculiarities of the North native inhabitants health

Didn’t you think, why the North natives during ages rejected the "civilized" means of life? Why, in spite of numerous prohibitions, they did not accept European food rations, continuing to adhere food of damp fish and venison? Why rituals and shamen institutes determined the life-support system and relation formation basic principles of the health maintenance among northern people?

Already obvious today, that this is connected with the Northern aborigines acquisition of adaptive stability to the extreme climate-geographic conditions action centuries-old experience guarantee with the aid of the specific vital activity rhythms; the food rations, which correspond to special northern type of metabolism features and toward the natural unity tendency. Erroneous ideas about the cultural, social and economic backwardness of the Northern natives from the middle latitudes inhabitants, which selected the western - technological-based type of their civilization development, determine the absence of the aboriginal people in Polar regions subsistence acceptable concept. Today's defects in human subsistence in the North noticeably reflected in medical-demographic processes, and, particularly, in the mortality from the suicides, accidents, cardiovascular diseases, malignant formations and tuberculosis indices increase. And also in high indices of morbidity in comparison with migrant population. Our data made possible to assert, that significant worsening in the health of natives caused by the ecologically stress development, which appears in the combined negative social, economic problems and extreme climatic-geophysical factors effect. Among natives all this manifested in an increase of psychoemotional stress level more than one and a half times, exceeding the hydrocortisone blood level in comparison with the migrant population, and also in oxidizing stress formation with the antioxidants concentration reduction background.

Contemporary data attests the fact that the most optimal way of the human society development in high latitudes in next century is the new Ethno-biosphere generality moderation - united circumpolar population based on social-demographic synthesis and ecologically balanced human vital activity guarantee with all elements of its surrounding biosphere.

This does not mean the destruction or ignoring the small northern ethnoses. On the contrary, maximum efforts for the retention of their culture, way of life, language, possibility of reproduction must be applied. In this case, the development of the biological and social bases of new circumpolar ethnos have to be based on the integration of natives, the acquisition of the new adaptive features, the association with the third and subsequent generations of alien northerners into common population.

Note. Abstracts are published in author's edition

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Last update: 06-Jul-2012 (11:52:05)