Circumpolar Health cooperation and the International Union

Abstract

Circumpolar health is concerned with the health and well being of the scattered populations living in the vast arctic and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere. Also health problems relative to expeditions to the Antarctic are included. These populations share cer tain living conditions, for example a hostile climate, the latitude of location, and characteristic seasonal extremes of daylight hours. Within the Arctic, however, there are significant differences in languages and culture, economic and service infrastructure, and in political systems. The lives of an Inuit hunter, a Norwegian schoolteacher and a Russian mineworker are very different and so is their health. Nobody can professionally cover all the different aspects of circumpolar health but we are many who are eager to learn as much about the other circumpolar regions, populations and health related disciplines as possible.