Canadian Arctic tuberculosis outbreak lays bare overcrowded living conditions

A general view of Iqaluit, Nunavut. The government of Nunavut spends around C$10m a year on treatment alone but says the costs of prevention and eradication are far higher. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters

A tuberculosis outbreak in the Canadian Arctic has prompted frustration in a remote Inuit community and highlighted the persistence of an illness that has largely been wiped out in the rest of the country.

The outbreak also lays bare the dismal living conditions and overcrowding in many Arctic communities, despite Canada’s status as one of the world’s wealthiest nations.