Health Delivery Systems in Response To Covid-19: The Need for Indigenous Led Responses in the USA
Keywords:
American Indians/ Alaskan Natives, Covid-19, health inequalities, indigenous healthAbstract
The indigenous American Indian/ Alaskan Native (AI/AN) communities in North America have experienced inequitably higher rates of Covid-19 related morbidity, hospitalisation, and mortality than the majority, non-Hispanic white population. These inequalities are the result of centuries of racism and oppression. Mainstream health services have struggled financially to survive the crisis and are poorly positioned or trained to meet the needs of tribal members. The Indian Health Service, being both poorly funded and often suspect, largely failed to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on these vulnerable communities. There is an urgent need for the expansion of indigenous led health providers.References
Yellow Horse AJ, Yang TC, Huyser KR. Structural Inequalities Established the Architecture for COVID-19 Pandemic Among Native Americans in Arizona: a Geographically Weighted Regression Perspective. J Racial Ethn Heal Disparities. 2021;
Brookings_Institute. American Indians and Alaska Natives are dying of COVID-19 at shocking rates [Internet]. 2021. Available from: https://www.brookings.edu/research/american-indians-and-alaska-natives-are-dying-of-covid-19-at-shocking-rates/
Cuellar NG, Aquino E, Dawson MA, Garcia-Dia MJ, Im EO, Jurado LFM, et al. Culturally Congruent Health Care of COVID-19 in Minorities in the United States: A Clinical Practice Paper From the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations. J Transcult Nurs. 2020;31(5):434–43.
UIHI. Data Genocide of American Indians and Alaska Natives in COVID-19 Data. Seattle, WA; 2021.
Schanche Hodge F, Pasqua A, Marquez CA, Geishirt-Cantrell B. Utilizing Traditional Storytelling to Promote Wellness in American Indian Communities. J Transcult Nurs. 2002;13(1):6–11.
Healy J. Tribal elders are dying from the pandemic, causing a cultural crisis for American Indians. The Seattle Times. January 13th 2021. https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/tribal-elders-are-dying-from-the-pandemic-causing-a-cultural-crisis-for-american-indians/
Brown D. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. New York: Vintage; 1987.
Cozens P. The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West. London: Atlantic Books; 2016.
Pacheco CM, Daley SM, Brown T, Filippi M, Greiner KA, Daley CM. Moving forward: Breaking the cycle of mistrust between American Indians and researchers. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(12):2152–9.
Lawrence J. The Indian Health Service and the Sterilization of Native Am. Am Indian Q. 2000;24(3):400–19.
Nuriddin A, Mooney G, White A. Reckoning with histories of medical racism and violence in the USA. Lancet. 2020;396:949–51.
Carpio M V. The lost generation: American Indian women and sterilization abuse. Soc Justice. 2004;3(4):40–53.
Pindus N, Kingsley TG, Biess J, Levy D, Simington J, Hayes C. Housing Needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives in Tribal Areas: A Report from the Assessment of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Housing Needs: Executive Summary. SSRN Electron J. 2017;
Rodriguez-Lonebear D, Barceló NE, Akee R, Carroll SR. American Indian reservations and COVID-19: Correlates of early infection rates in the pandemic. J Public Heal Manag Pract. 2020;26(4):371–7.
GAO. SUPERFUND- EPA Should Improve the Reliability of Data on National Priorities List Sites Affecting Indian Tribes. Washington DC: GAO; 2019.
USBLS. American Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S. labor force [Internet]. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019 [cited 2021 May 7]. Available from: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/american-indians-and-alaska-natives-in-the-u-s-labor-force.htm
USCB. American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2017 [Internet]. United States Census Bureau. 2017. Available from: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2017/aian-month.html
Tipps RT, Buzzard GT, McDougall JA. The opioid epidemic in Indian country. J Law, Med Ethics. 2018;46(2):422–36.
Kunitz SJ. History and Politics of US Health Care Policy for AIAN. Am J Public Health. 1996;86(10):1464–73.
Warne D, Frizzell LB. American Indian Health Policy: Historical trends and contemporary issues. Am J Public Health. 2014;104(SUPPL. 3):263–7.
Khullar D, Bond AM, Schpero WL. COVID-19 and the Financial Health of US Hospitals. JAMA - J Am Med Assoc. 2020;323(21):2127–8.
Wilensky G. The Importance of Reestablishing a Pandemic Preparedness Office at the White House. JAMA - J Am Med Assoc. 2020;324(9):830–1.
Cohen J, Meulen Y Van Der. Contributing factors to personal protective equipment shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prev Med. 2020;141(January):106263.
Bhaskar S, Tan J, Bogers MLAM, Minssen T, Badaruddin H, Israeli-Korn S, et al. At the Epicenter of COVID-19–the Tragic Failure of the Global Supply Chain for Medical Supplies. Front Public Heal. 2020;8(November):1–9.
Teisberg E, Wallace S, O’Hara S. Defining and Implementing Value-Based Health Care: A Strategic Framework. Acad Med. 2020;95(5):682–5.
Rearden A. Recruitment and retention of Alaska natives into nursing: elements enabling educational success. J Cult Divers. 2012;19(3):72–8.
DeLapp T, Hautman M, Anderson MS. Recruitment and retention of Alaska natives into nursing (RRANN). J Nurs Educ. 2008;47(7):293–7.
Charbonneau-Dahlen B, Crow K. A Brief Overview of the History of American Indian Nurses Barar Charbonneau-Dahlen, Karine Crow. J Cult Divers. 2016;23(3):79–90.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2021. https://doi.org/10.17226/25982.
Nowell C. They Asked for PPE and Got Body Bags Instead—She Turned Them Into a Healing Dress. Vogue 4th February 2021.
https://www.vogue.com/article/body-bag-native-ribbon-dress
Weaver HN. Transcultural nursing with Native Americans: critical knowledge, skills, and attitudes. J Transcult Nurs. 1999;10(3):197–202.
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian partnering with Indian Health Services. (February, 2021) COVID-19 in Indian Country . https://www.si.edu/files/videos/covid-19-indian-country
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
