Right to Health: Native American Perspectives

While health care as a human right might be up for debate, American Indians are one of the few populations in the United States that are legally entitled to receive health care through the federal government. The lack of political will and the discretionary nature of Indian health funding has created significant barriers to developing strategies to improve the health of Native American communities. Nearly 70% of American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) live away from their home reservations. Individuals living in off-reservation communities typically lack access to health services due to limited Indian Health Service funding, no insurance or the lack of culturally appropriate services at non-Indian health centers. AI/AN in these communities suffer from higher rates of diabetes, depression and substance abuse than other races and ethnicities. In Bernalillo County, New Mexico, off-reservation community members took an important first step to change this paradigm by mobilizing to create a Native American Health Commission. When the Commission was enacted by the New Mexico State Legislature in 2008, it created a voice for a population that had never before been represented in local or state health policy decisions. As a result, this group is increasingly engaged at local and state levels for input into health policy. This presentation will include a description of local strategies that were used to mobilize community members to change health policy and the process used to complete a communitybased, participatory strategic health plan that reinforces federal obligations to serve tribal members regardless of where they live.