Improving Health Outcomes in American Indian/Alaska Native Communities: Why Investment from Local Stakeholders is Crucial to the Tribal Consultation Process
Abstract
American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) peoples experience significant health disparities in comparison to the general United States population. This is complicated by the fact that AI/AN communities’ health concerns are often not addressed equitably compared to other racial/ethnic minority populations. The aim of this paper is to review concerns about AI/AN peoples’ health within the context of existing tribal consultation processes in the United States federal government. Tribal consultation is important in building on-going channels of communication between the federal government and the 567 federally recognized tribes. Suggestions are made about best practices that would better utilize the consultation process to improve health for indigenous peoples. The main conclusion of this research is that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) tribal consultation process needs to include community-based participatory research (CBPR) and health promotion practices, which directly involve local stakeholders, because it will lead to better outcomes for American Indian/Alaskan Native communities.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
a) Authors retain copyright over their work, while allowing the conference to place this unpublished work under a Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to freely access, use, and share the work, with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and its initial presentation at this conference.
b) Authors are able to waive the terms of the CC license and enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution and subsequent publication of this work (e.g., publish a revised version in a journal, post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial presentation at this conference.
c) In addition, authors are encouraged to post and share their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) at any point before and after the conference.
d) The Author grants Marriott Library the nonexclusive, perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable right to reproduce, distribute, display, publish, archive, preserve, digitize, transcribe, translate, provide access and transmit their work (in whole or in part) for any non-commercial purpose including but not limited to archiving, academic research, and marketing in such tangible electronic formats as may be in existence now or hereafter developed.
e) Marriott Library may elect, in its sole discretion, not to exercise the rights granted herein.
f) Author shall retain copyright in and to the Work and Marriott Library shall provide proper attribution in its exercise of the rights granted herein.
g) Author is solely responsible and will indemnify and hold Marriott Library and/or the University of Utah harmless for any third party claims related to the Work as submitted for publication.
