Zuni Indians Barriers To Healthcare

For every nearby reservation, there is an Indian Hospital that is government funded for all Native Americans to receive free health care. I enjoy the convenient nature of when having health issues, I can depend on the Indian Hospital for my needs. Even if an Indian Hospital is not near we could go to any hospital to receive treatment and what is billed to us, we would give to the proper administrative workers

Adding to the conversation, academic scholar Daniel Carlock notes, “health disparities between Native Americans and the general population of the United States are a major health concern” (Carlock, Danielle). Hence, an inherent culturally based issue arises where natives are disregarding modern medicine and Western medical practices and instead turning to a traditional holistic approach. Alternative to standard science being the leading factor towards understanding illness and medicine, a cultural barrier divides indigenous peoples perception of the effectiveness of Western science in regards to traditional beliefs. This creates much difficulty for the U.S. government agency the Indian Health Service providing health care and assistance to federally recognized tribes and indigenous peoples. Commenting on Native American health discrepancies, professor James E. Cheek finds “the infectious disease rate in Native Americans populations was significantly higher than that of Whites”(Cheek, James E). This connects Native American cultural beliefs to an increase in medical disparities in relationship to following standard Western medical practices. With tradition ingrained in Native American culture, indigenous medical practices fail to focus on pathology and curing the disease, instead restoring balance between one's mind, body, and spirit is the focus of natives. Consequently, this is leading to standard Western medical practices and medicine being disregarded because Western culture in terms of medicine has been seen to impede important native spirituality beliefs. “The rates for the top ten underlying causes of death were significantly higher for Native American persons than those for whites” (Cheek, James E). This study accounts for the disparities in regards to

Though American Indians are enjoying an independent public health system with above $3 billion funds provided by Congress annually for delivering healthcare services to them, still figure and facts on health status of American Indians reveal that they are facing many difficulties and have to suffer from diverse type of illness and disease at a misappropriate level. Since long it was identified by medical communities that there are wide spread diseases diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, unintentional injuries, and other health conditions among American Indian and they are dying of these diseases at shocking rates (American Heart Association [AHA], 2010). Through this essay I want to discuss the healthcare status of American Indians in the perspective of their culture as how it impacted and lead to develop mistrust between amongst the medical community and American Indians.

The aim of this paper is to gain information and knowledge about health disparities. The objectives are to understand what is a disparity, to determine if in fact there are health disparities, to learn who are the target of disparities, to recognize how does a disparity affect the target, and most importantly to assess how can a disparity be eliminated. In addition, this paper will narrow its research to a specific minority: The American Indian elderly population.

Native reservations have some health issues because they don’t have access to clean running water. According to Becky Norton, “We have a very high rate of strep throat, bad colds and other illnesses that come with the poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water” (Risen). For Natives getting water is highly important to ensure them that themselves and kids are healthy and in good shape. Health problems are not the only issues Native Americans

I assume that in today’s world, there is a lot of information and scholarly research available that shows factors such as economic status, income, social situations, education, ethnicity, employment, availability of affordable housing and geographical (place where one was born and lives) conditions have a tremendous impact on the health and well-being of individuals, countries and communities (Amaro, 2014). Inequalities in health and well-being are created by social determinants and economic conditions for many in our community (Brannigan &Boss). The people that are affected the most are people with low income and minority groups here in the United States. This creates health disparities and unequal care (Brannigan &Boss). In many developing and under-developed countries, the situation is dire: lack of modern health services, illiteracy, poor economic conditions has created a cultural situation of desperation and unhealthy behaviors. Corruption by African governments is rampant. To improve the health and wellbeing of communities, we need to start thinking of how we can create a culture of health.

One of the largest issues facing the American Indian's today is that health care. As tribes and urban Indian health centers struggle along with the rest of the country to address the growing numbers of Elders in their communities. There are key issues and special considerations that must be addressed to ensure American Indian Elders are not forgotten in any proposed reform or redesign proposals that the newly formed Medicaid Commission or Congress put forth. By 2030, it is estimated there will be 430,000 American Indian and Alaska Native Elders, constituting 12.2% of the American Indian population (Day, 1993). While the

Carson, B., Dunbar, T., Chenhall, R. D., & Bailie, R. (2007). Social determinants of Indigenous health. Allen & Unwin.

The Cherokee nation of Oklahoma is one of the many native Indian tribes that place a great emphasis on health care. There are noticeable efforts in improving the health system in the Cherokee nation as well as the health of its individuals. For a long time, the Cherokee nation has engaged in successful health care experiences such as building health centers, launching health programs or even individually engaging in the health field to improve the overall healthcare in the nation.

Johnson in 1965 and was designed as a social programs to provide medical services and hospital care to those with low incomes, fewer resources, and those with disabilities (CMS.gov, 2015). High unemployment, cramped living conditions, distances from modern health facilities, and lack of public transportation has caused many barriers for American Indians and Alaska Natives to access the services of modern medicine (Giger, 2013). This has caused these groups of people, though eligible for these federally funded health services, to seek treatment, care, and services from the Indian Health Service

healthcare system (Elchoufani, 2018). Attaining a good health is the ultimate goal for all people and the overall population, so it is important that people study the interactions between race, gender, and socioeconomic status in this matter (ASPPH, n.d.). People in communities with lower socioeconomic status typically encounter fewer options for healthy food and a lack of health education as well as health care. All in all, studying minority health allows us to find methods in making health care more accessible for under-resourced populations, along with determining methods out services and resources can be dispersed to the populations which are more prone to certain illnesses (ASPPH, n.d.). The studying which results in better methods all benefit towards guiding the U.S. population to overall health

Moreover, in 2008, it has significantly dropped to 8.4 infant deaths per 1000 live births. Major risk factors associated with these high mortality rates are due to poverty, limited access to health care services, and cultural dislocation. With limited access to health care, infants are “four times more likely to die from pneumonia or influenza. Sudden infant death syndrome and unintentional injuries were also more common among American Indians/Alaska Natives infants.” (American Indian and Alaska Native, 2014). Within adult mortality rates, heart disease is not exceptionally high among the American Indians, but it is still the second leading cause of death among their population. According to MMWR, American Indians/Alaska Natives had a rate of 46.7%, with the highest rate among the age group of 50-64. American Indians are more prone to getting cardiovascular disease due to their lifestyle factors, such as smoking, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diets. Discrimination, family history, and cultural differences are also key factors to having a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. With the lack of health care services, many individuals cannot get tested and treated, which results in

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CN) is one of the many Native American tribes that place a great emphasis on health care. There are noticeable efforts and investments in improving the health care system in the Cherokee Nation. Through the building of health care centers, launching health programs, and individually engaged tribal members in the health field, the Cherokee Nation is striving to improve the overall health care of their people.

In this paper Health-seeking behavior and the meaning of medications in Balochistan, Pamela A. Hunte and Farhat Sultana examine the health-seeking behavior in the area of mother and child health for villagers in this pluralistic medical setting. A wide variety of health care options home-based, indigenous, and cosmopolitan exists in northern Balochistan, Pakistan. The analysis of a specific series of illness episodes shows that the majority of cases obtain treatment from different medical systems. Interest in medications takes precedence over practitioners, and the villagers depend on the local practitioners than the biomedical one. Long-established patterns of behavior relating to indigenous medicine continue to occur when cosmopolitan medicine

Their social structure is built on a caste system or social stratification where people are categorized based on their socioeconomic status. There is an upper, middle, and lower class which are all subdivided into stratum. Gender also plays a part in social order and role expectations. The caste system can even go as far as interfering with the healthcare system. Those of lower socioeconomic status and/or women have the most difficulty getting their health needs met. India still has an ongoing issue of healthcare inequality. The National Center for Biotechnology Information says, “…there are marked variations in general hospitalization rates by gender, wealth, and urban-rural residence. Some of this variation may be due to differences in actual and perceived need and health seeking behavior; indeed, there is evidence of gender inequalities in untreated morbidity with the likely underreporting of illness among women.” There is low government spending, lack of insurance, and most bills are paid out-of-pocket. India has top quality healthcare facilities located in the cities, but with lack of transportation, people living in rural areas are unable to gain access.