Indigenous Health Issues
When compared to all other races, AIAN have a lower life expectancy by 5.5 years, with higher rates of death from chronic illnesses including diabetes, heart disease, chronic liver disease, and suicide.
Ongoing housing disparities contribute to high health care costs among high-risk populations.
Adding to the problem, the exact definitions of “rural” is compounded with the racial designation of American Indian/Alaska Natives.
According to Dustin Baird, much of the housing disparities are the “direct consequence of the many land and housing policies passed over the history of the Unites States to isolate and subjugate Native people.” The Highland Support Project says, “Health disparities are nice words for systemic racism…it’s the residual effects of the founding of this country."