Tools for Teaching and Learning
- Building Power Through Re-Indigenization Across American Indian Communities During COVID-19"COVID-19 has worsened many long-standing inequities across the nation. Indigenous communities have been fighting for change and justice across many social, economic, and environmental inequities for decades. This webinar will feature Indigenous leaders from across the country who are centering re-Indigenization, a process intended to promote community healing that centers the distinct social and cultural experiences of American Indian people."
- Tribal Adolescent Sexual & Reproductive Health: Practices for Public Health Professionals (On Demand-CE) is a Course Tribal Adolescent Sexual & Reproductive Health: Practices for Public Health Professionals"Tribal health is a unique experience separate from that of other population groups across the country. To assume that all health priorities and initiatives are befitting for varying population groups is an assumption and can likely lead to gaps in care and perpetuate health disparities.
This one-hour webinar will present key concepts on issues related to adolescent sexual and reproductive health and propose methods for public health professionals to effectively influence healthy behaviors in teen Tribal members." - The Native American Center for Health Professions: Distinguished Lecture Series"The Native American Center for Health Professions sponsors a Distinguished Lecture Series focusing on issues affecting Native health."
- Reshaping the Journey American Indians and Alaska Natives in Medicine"The Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) produced
this report with the goal of increasing the presence of American Indians and Alaska Natives in academic health centers.
The report provides data, research, informational resources, and institutional profiles to guide efforts to attract, recruit, and
graduate American Indians and Alaska Natives. It also includes strategies to ensure that all physicians are prepared to
serve American Indian and Alaska Native (AI-AN) communities. This report will help inform faculty and leaders in medical
education, student affairs and programs, diversity and inclusion, prehealth advising, biomedical research, AI-AN communities,
higher education, and community-based organizations.
The report does the following:
• Provides an overview of the current state of American Indians and Alaska Natives in medicine, including data
and available research.
• Illustrates the case for increasing AI-AN representation in medicine by highlighting the value of diversity in education
and training, workforce needs, and health disparities.
• Outlines a framework for consideration to promote a positive institutional culture and climate.
• Features institutional profiles of programs that have successfully graduated Native physicians.
• Presents a call to action for medical schools." - Educating for Indigenous Health Equity: An International Consensus Statement"This article seeks to examine the factors underpinning medical education's role in Indigenous health inequity, to inform interventions to address these factors. The authors developed a consensus statement that synthesizes evidence from research, evaluation, and the collective experience of an international research collaboration including experts in Indigenous medical education. [...] The authors recognize colonization, racism, and privilege as fundamental determinants of Indigenous health that are also deeply embedded in Western medical education. To contribute effectively to Indigenous health development, medical education institutions must engage in decolonization processes and address racism and privilege at curricular and institutional levels. Indigenous health curricula must be formalized and comprehensive, and must be consistently reinforced in all educational environments."
Organizations, Websites, and Journals
- National Indian Health Board"The National Indian Health Board (NIHB) represents Tribal governments—both those that operate their own health care delivery systems through contracting and compacting, and those receiving health care directly from the Indian Health Service (IHS).
Located in Washington DC on Capitol Hill, the NIHB, a non-profit organization, provides a variety of services to tribes, Area Health Boards, Tribal organizations, federal agencies, and private foundations." - APA: Working With Indigenous/Native American Patients"Having an accurate history of the colonization of the Americas is necessary in understanding the unique place in history of Indigenous peoples. Genocidal practices through massacres, forced relocations, and the rupture of Native American family and cultures was pervasive in the settlement of the United States. Native peoples have struggled to maintain identity as they were imprisoned for practicing their ceremonies and cultural events. For example, in Canada, the Potlatch, a time of sharing food and goods, was outlawed. Later, children were taken away from their families and sent to schools where they were punished for speaking their own language."
- MedLine Plus: American Indian and Alaska Native Health"On this page, you'll find links to health issues that affect American Indians and Alaska Natives."
- Association of American Indian Physicians"Our mission is to pursue excellence in Native American health care by promoting education in the medical disciplines, honoring traditional healing principles and restoring the balance of mind, body, and spirit"
- NANAINA"NANAINA is a committed group of persons from every corner of the country, dedicated to the health and well-being of the American Indian and Alaska Native people. Some of us are ourselves American Indian, Alaska Native, some not. We are nurses, non-nurses, serving or not in communities and programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives."
E-books
Fighting for a Hand to Hold : Confronting Medical Colonialism Against Indigenous Children in Canada by ISBN: 9780228005131Publication Date: 2020-09-23
Structures of Indifference: An Indigenous Life and Death in a Canadian City by ISBN: 9780887555718Publication Date: 2018-09-07
Articles
- American Indian Health Equity/Disparities"Health Inequity: Disparities in health that are a result of systemic, avoidable and unjust social and economic policies and practices that creates barriers to opportunity (Virginia Department of Health, 2013).
American Indians have a history of health inequity according to the United States Census Bureau (2015) 28.3% of American Indians live in poverty, this is the highest rate among any other race. In addition to having the highest rate of poverty “American Indians and Alaska Natives born today have a life expectancy that is 4.4 years less than the U.S. races population, 73.7 years to 78.1 years, respectively” (IHS, 2016). There may be a possible link between poverty and the reduced life expectancy that American Indians (AI) face. Furthermore, in a recent study by the Indian Health Service (2016) AI have higher rate of easily avoidable diseases such as diabetes, liver disease and more. In the table below, you will see mortality rates for American Indians compared to All other races in 2007-2009 as well as the ratio." - Native Americans: A Crisis in Health Equity"By any measure, health care for Native Americans lags behind other groups, despite a legal obligation on the part of the United States to provide health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. Native American communities face significant inequity in health care and health status compared to other U.S. populations. Health outcomes for Native Americans are adversely impacted by wholly inadequate access to comprehensive health services."
- More Native American Doctors Needed to Reduce Health Disparities in Their Communities"When Melvina L. McCabe was in an eighth-grade boarding school, she told a teacher she wanted to be a doctor. The teacher replied, “You know what, Melvina? I think you’d make a better dental hygienist.”
McCabe didn’t follow that advice, though, and is now Melvina L. McCabe, MD, associate vice chancellor for Native Health Policy and Service at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. At the AAMC seminar “Advancing Health,” held in July 2016, McCabe discussed health inequities in the American Indian and Alaska Native community. The U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) has documented that these populations suffer disproportionately from heart disease, intrahepatic bile duct cancer, diabetes, alcoholism, mental health problems, asthma, and chronic liver disease." - The impact of historical trauma on American Indian health equity"In this Special Feature, we draw from the work of experts on American Indian health inequities to highlight the unfair disparities this population faces as a result of historical trauma."
- For This Navajo Doctor, Listening Is Medicine"When they do get sick, Native patients often aren’t seen by Native doctors, who are underrepresented in the profession. While about 2 percent of the U.S. population identify at least in part as American Indian or Alaska Native, only about 0.56 percent of practicing doctors do so. So tribal health organizations recruit doctors from outside the reservation, sometimes young physicians who spend a few years caring for an underserved community while taking advantage of loan forgiveness programs. The downside, wrote Ronald Shaw, former president of the Association of American Indian Physicians, is that Native health facilities “rely on a workforce composed of too many physicians serving out a commitment rather than being committed to the people.”"
- Rezzies in medicine: The new adventures of Native physicians"However, the challenges that Native medical students face on the path of becoming physicians were talked about very little or not at all. Often times students faced the battles while they’ve already in medical school. Native medical students face multiple challenges right now that fall in the categories of lack of Native representation in medical schools, financial stress, mentorship, and support overall. Smith and Shelbie Shelder, Little River Band of Odawa Indians, unexpectedly took on the task of tackling the lack of representation."
- Why cultural safety rather than cultural competency is required to achieve health equity: a literature review and recommended definition"Eliminating indigenous and ethnic health inequities requires addressing the determinants of health inequities which includes institutionalised racism, and ensuring a health care system that delivers appropriate and equitable care. There is growing recognition of the importance of cultural competency and cultural safety at both individual health practitioner and organisational levels to achieve equitable health care. Some jurisdictions have included cultural competency in health professional licensing legislation, health professional accreditation standards, and pre-service and in-service training programmes. However, there are mixed definitions and understandings of cultural competency and cultural safety, and how best to achieve them."
- Oil pipelines and food sovereignty: threat to health equity for Indigenous communities"Energy projects may profoundly impact Indigenous peoples. We consider effects of Canada's proposed Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion on the health and food sovereignty of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) through contamination and impeded access to uncontaminated traditional foods. [...] As the environmental impact assessment process failed to effectively consider these local health concerns in addition to larger impacts of climate change, new assessment is needed attending to linked issues of equity, sustainability and Indigenous food sovereignty."
- Mental, Physical and Social Dimensions of Health Equity and Wellness among U.S. Indigenous Peoples: What is Known and Next Steps"This special issue and introduction focuses on promoting health equity and addressing health disparities among Indigenous peoples of the United States (U.S.) and associated Territories in the Pacific Islands and Caribbean. We provide an overview of the current state of health equity across social, physical, and mental health domains. In Part 1 of the special issue, we trace promotive, protective, and risk factors related to Indigenous health equity. Part 2 of the special issue describes interventions that address and promote wellness, providing promising pathways to achieving and transcending health equity."
- Enhancing health care equity with Indigenous populations: evidence-based strategies from an ethnographic study"Structural violence shapes the health of Indigenous peoples globally, and is deeply embedded in history, individual and institutional racism, and inequitable social policies and practices. Many Indigenous communities have flourished, however, the impact of colonialism continues to have profound health effects for Indigenous peoples in Canada and internationally. Despite increasing evidence of health status inequities affecting Indigenous populations, health services often fail to address health and social inequities as routine aspects of health care delivery. In this paper, we discuss an evidence-based framework and specific strategies for promoting health care equity for Indigenous populations."
- Indigenous-specific cultural safety within health and dementia care: A scoping review of reviews"Globally, health inequities experienced by Indigenous communities are often described and documented in terms of deficits and disease. However, health disparities are complex and involve numerous underlying issues beyond the social determinants of health. Indigenous Peoples face unique barriers to accessing culturally safe and equitable healthcare, including racism, systemic injustice, and a historical legacy of colonialism. [...] Findings from this review can help to inform future research, inspire innovative collaborative methodologies, and enhance cultural safety interventions. In moving forward, there is an urgent need for anti-racism education, self-determination, and authentic partnerships to achieve Indigenous-specific cultural safety inclusive of sex and gender considerations in health and dementia care."
- Capacity for Collaboration: A Call to Advance Equity through Honoring Indigenous Knowledge and Healing"In this article, we came together as a team of tribal members, an equity-based evaluator, tribally based consultants and funder staff to coalesce our collective learning. We wish to share how funders/public health can build capacity to understand history and healing to work effectively with Tribal Nations to create health equity. We first summarize the cultural fracture experienced by Tribal Nations and the healing now occurring through practice of cultural ways. We then describe our experience collectively building capacity, rather than assuming a funder-driven, "expert"-focused technical assistance approach, and how this helped overcome historical divides and build authentic relationships between public health practitioners and Ojibwe and Dakota Nations in Minnesota."
- Urgent action needed on health inequities among American Indians and Alaska Natives"The population of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) in the USA, which comprise about 5 million individuals, have worse health outcomes than other Americans. Life expectancy among AIAN people is more than 4 years lower than that of the overall US population. AIAN death rates are about 50% higher than rates in the white population. More alarmingly, this disparity in mortality rates has increased in the past decade, with death rates falling in white people and increasing in AIAN people. [...] As Zinzi Bailey and colleagues outline, structural racism—the institutionalisation of racial discrimination in systems such as housing, education, and health care, among others—can have a profound effect on population health, health inequities, and the health and wellbeing of individuals. Indeed, the worrying inequalities among AIAN raise fundamental issues for health care systems and providers."