The Arctic health declaration

Abstract

On February 16th the ministers or their representatives from 7 of the 8 Arctic countries convened in Nuuktogether with representatives of the Permanent Participants of Arctic Council (Inuit Circumpolar Council, Gwich?in Council International) for a day?s discussion about health problems in the Arctic. The Governmentof Greenland hosted the meeting, which was chaired by the Greenland and the Danish ministers ofhealth. The first achievement was that all of the 45 participants from outside Greenland actually managedto arrive in Nuuk in spite of the difficult travel conditions in winter. After a long day?s presentations anddiscussions, the second major achievement was the signing of the Arctic Health Declaration by all countriesas well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The declaration, the full text of which follows below, willguide international cooperation in Arctic health for the years to come, especially at the political level.