A Comprehensive Approach to Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country (DP14-1421PPHF14)

CDC’s largest single investment to ease health disparities that affect American Indians and Alaska Natives is Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country, a 5-year, $16 million/year program that started in FY 2014. Twelve tribes work on effective community-chosen and culturally adapted strategies to reduce commercial tobacco use and exposure, improve nutrition and physical activity, increase support for health literacy, and strengthen team-based care and community-clinical links. Eleven tribal organizations provide leadership, technical assistance, training, and resources to tribes and villages in their Indian Health Service (IHS) Administrative Areas to start program activities that will lead to improvements in health.

The three long-term goals of Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country are

• Reduce rates of death and disability from tobacco use.
• Reduce prevalence of obesity.
• Reduce rates of death and disability from diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

Evaluation

CDC provided $2.1 million to the IHS to conduct an evaluation of these activities. While IHS does not regularly support program evaluation activities, its unique relationship with the Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs) positions it to support this evaluation in conjunction with the TECs. Twelve TECs throughout the United States serve the tribes in the 12 IHS Areas. TECs perform a variety of functions in consultation with, and at the request of, tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to improve the health of tribal and urban Indian communities. Funds provided to IHS will be used by the Urban Indian Health Institute–one of the 12 TECs–to coordinate a national evaluation of the program. The funds also allow 11 TECS to support individual program and area-wide evaluation.

Awardees

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