Credit: Ernmuhl, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Climate change affects us all, but the Arctic and its inhabitants are hit the hardest with warming four times the global average. Sápmi is an area of the Arctic and the ancestral home to the Sami, a group of indigenous people that reside in the nearby northern Arctic regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Today, only about 50,000 to 100,000 Sami remain.
Nature and Sami Culture Interwoven
Throughout all of Sami culture, the environment and nature have been a focal point. Since the 17th century, Sami have relied heavily on reindeer herding for most of their resources, from food to money. A great example is the North Sami language having around 360 different words just to describe snow, eight words for the seasons, and several words to describe scared reindeer based on its age and sex.
It comes as no surprise that with climate change worsening, the Sami are becoming a vulnerable population. Sami ways of living are being impacted by vanishing salmon populations and drastic environmental changes. People hypothesize that, with climate change, some words may completely disappear or new ones may be added. Examples of this are words like ealát (conditions where reindeer can easily find food under snow) being used less and dálkkádatrievdan (climate change) being created. The Sami have been at the forefront with other indigenous groups to provide ecological knowledge to combat the climate crisis in the Arctic. But as Professor Jouni Jaakkola from the University of Oulu put it, “The ones who are the least responsible for global warming are the ones who are suffering the most because of it.”
Credit : Mats Andersson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Impact of Modern Sedentary Lifestyles
Maintaining their traditional way of life has historically protected Sami from certain illnesses as it involved a lot of physical exertion. With it becoming increasingly harder to engage in that tradition, mental illness and other illnesses are more frequent. A study by Näkkäläjärvi, Jaakkola, and Juntunen showed there were changes in Sami health with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mental illness becoming more prevalent. Näkkäläjärvi stated that having a strong Sami identity is what can improve the mental health of Sami individuals. A study from Sweden also found health inequity among the Sami, with self-reports of poor dental health, chronic illness among men, asthma, and being overweight.
Tackling the Healthcare Gap
Unfortunately, even as Sami health issues increase, their access to adequate care has not. In health care, Sami receive standardized care that’s developed for the majority population, which often leaves them experiencing a lesser quality of service. In a study looking at care for South Sami in Norway, Sami stated they felt powerless when seeking medical attention and only ever did if necessary. Those receiving home-based nursing felt they were valued less than ethnic Norwegians. While race-based medicine would likely have negative effects on most marginalized groups, adapting care to consider indigenous groups’ cultures and values could vastly improve care for them.
The Norwegian government is already aware of these concerns, with their recent white paper discussing where they’ve fallen short and how they could close the health equity gap between the Sami and non-Sami people. Their main approach is to bring the Sami perspective to certain municipalities to reduce marginalization and loneliness while also protecting and helping the Sami culture and language thrive. With various inclusive proposals in the works, we could see a closing in the health equity gap. While the gap in Norway isn’t that large comparatively, Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol stated that Norway “cannot live with such differences.”
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