Indigenous/First Nations Health Disparities
From the U.S. Indian Health Service website:
"The American Indian and Alaska Native people have long experienced lower health status when compared with other Americans. Lower life expectancy and the disproportionate disease burden exist perhaps because of inadequate education, disproportionate poverty, discrimination in the delivery of health services, and cultural differences. These are broad quality of life issues rooted in economic adversity and poor social conditions.
Diseases of the heart, malignant neoplasm, unintentional injuries, and diabetes are leading causes of American Indian and Alaska Native deaths (2009-2011).
American Indians and Alaska Natives born today have a life expectancy that is 5.5 years less than the U.S. all races population (73.0 years to 78.5 years, respectively).
American Indians and Alaska Natives continue to die at higher rates than other Americans in many categories, including chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, unintentional injuries, assault/homicide, intentional self-harm/suicide, and chronic lower respiratory diseases."
Elderly Indigenous Peoples Health Care Barriers
- Meeting The Needs of Aging Native AmericansToday, American Indians and Alaska Natives are living longer, with more functional disabilities than the rest of the population, suggesting that the population needing long-term care will balloon in the coming years. In 1940, the life expectancy of American Indians was about 52 years—now it’s nearly 74 years (although still lower than the most recent life expectancies reported for whites, blacks, and Hispanics). Between 2000 and 2010, the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives age 65 or older increased by 40.5 percent, growing at double the rate of the overall older population.
- Elder Care Initiative - Indian Health ServicesIndian Health Service leadership and staff, tribal and urban leadership, tribal, urban, and IHS health program administrators, and representatives from the Administration on Aging, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Veterans Administration, the HHS Office on Disability, and other federal agencies participated in this vital conversation.
- National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) - EldersIn tribal communities, elders are considered the “wisdom-keepers” and are held in the highest regard. However, these same American Indian and Alaska Native elders comprise the most economically disadvantaged group in the nation and are at increasing risk of financial exploitation and neglect.
Treatment That Works: Diabetes and Kidney Failure Rates
Team-based and population approaches reduce kidney failure from diabetes in Native Americans: can be a model for other groups
Native American adults have more diabetes than any other race or ethnicity.
Whites 8%
Asian Americans 9%
Hispanics 13%
Blacks 13%
Native Americans 16%
SOURCE: National Health Interview Survey and Indian Health Service, 2010-2012.
Kidney failure from diabetes in Native Americans has dropped more than any other race or ethnicity.
Trend graphic comparing kidney failure from diabetes in Native Americans to other groups from 1996 to 2013. In 1996, Native Americans had more kidney failure than blacks, Hispanics, Asians and whites. However, by 2013, Native Americans were third in kidney failure from diabetes despite having the most diabetes.
Improving team-based diabetes care supports kidney disease reductions
Graphic showing the percent of Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) Sites reporting diabetes services in 1997 and 2013. Bars show the percent for each intervention.
Indigenous Peoples Health Care Resources
- Virtual Health Library - Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative MedicineThe VHL TCIM is a collaborative and participative virtual space, developed and managed by the Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine Network for the Americas (TCIM Americas Network). This Network was established by the cooperation between institutions and organizations involved in the training, regulation, promotion, research development, and provision of TCIM services. The Pan-American Health Organization/ World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), by means of the Latin-American and Caribbean System on Health Sciences Information (BIREME/PAHO/WHO), works as the articulator and facilitator of the afore mentioned Network.
- ISHR Hosts Symposium on Environmental Violence Against Indigenous Women and GirlsThe Symposium was organized and sponsored by by the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI), the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), the Institute for the Study of Human Rights Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Program at Columbia University and el Fondo para el Desarollo de los Pueblos Indígenas del América Latina y el Caribe (FILAC). It was co-sponsored by: MADRE; Alaska Community Action on Toxics; Tribal Link; and Columbia University’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law, Native American Law Students Association, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, Law School, Center for the Study of Social Difference, and Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race.
Mortality in Native Americans/Alaska Natives
- Infant Mortality and American Indians/Alaska Natives (AINA)***American Indian/Alaska Natives have twice the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites.
***American Indian/Alaska Native infants are twice as likely as non-Hispanic white infants to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
***American Indian/Alaska Native infants are 2.7 times more likely than non-Hispanic white infants to die from accidental deaths before the age of one year.
***In 2017, American Indian/Alaska Native mothers were 2.8 times as likely to receive late or no prenatal care as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers.
***American Indian/Alaska Native mothers are 60 percent more likely to smoke during pregnancy as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers. - Mortality Among American Indians and Alaska Natives (Article)The AI/AN population in CHSDA counties had the lowest life expectancy relative to other racial/ethnic groups, with a 6.4- to 8-year decrease in life expectancy compared with whites. Regardless of sex, AI/ANs were more likely to die of diabetes, chronic liver disease, accidents, and suicide than whites. However, AI/AN males were more likely to die of assault (homicide) than white males. Accidents were the third leading cause of death for AI/ANs and the rate of motor vehicle traffic death, the highest among all other reported unintentional causes of death, was nearly 3 times that of whites. AI/AN were also more likely to die of cirrhosis, one of the main causes of chronic liver disease. The leading driver of cirrhosis deaths for both AI/ANs and whites was alcoholic liver disease (ALD). However, the ALD death rate for AI/ANs was nearly 10 times higher than that of whites for those in the 25- through 44-year age range. For those younger than 45 years, the suicide death rate was about 2- to 3-fold higher for AI/ANs than whites, but for those aged 45 years or older, the rate was lower for AI/ANs than whites.
Indigenous Mental Health
(from Mental Health America)
- Tribal Affairs - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)For American Indians and Alaska Natives, multiple factors influence health outcomes, including historical trauma and a range of social, policy, and economic conditions such as poverty, under-employment, lack of access to health care, lower educational attainment, housing problems, and violence.
- Office of Minority Health - Mental and Behavioral Health - American Indians and Alaska Natives***In 2017, suicide was the second leading cause of death for American Indian/Alaska Natives between the ages of 10 and 34.1
***American Indian/Alaska Natives are twice as likely to experience the feeling that everything is an effort, all or most of the time, as compared to non-Hispanic whites.
***Violent deaths, unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide, account for 75% of all mortality in the second decade of life for American Indian/Alaska Natives.2
***The overall death rate from suicide for American Indian/Alaska Native adults is about 20 percent higher as compared to the non-Hispanic white population.
***Adolescent American Indian/Alaska Native females, ages 15-19, have a death rate that is three times higher than for non-Hispanic white females in the same age groups. - Stress in the Native American Community (APA)With 564 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes, 100 state recognized tribes, and over 200 languages, there is a sincere need for the development of mental health programs aimed at AI/ANs that center culture as a dominant aspect of treatment. The deficit in culturally relevant treatment programs aimed at American Indian and Alaska Native people living with mental illness is glaring. American Indian and Alaska Native communities cope with intergenerational trauma which has a historical context, occurring when exposure to trauma takes place in an earlier generation and continues to affect subsequent generations.