American Indian and Alaska Native Populations: How They Fair vs. the National Average
Kari L. Singer
Grand Canyon University: NRS-
March 1, 2015

American Indian and Alaska Native Populations: How They Fair vs. the National Average There are many different ethnicities and cultures in the United States. This paper will be comparing American Indians and Alaska Natives health to that of the national average. We will be looking at the current health status of this ethnic group compared to the national average, their definition of Health Promotion, three health disparities affecting this ethnic group, and finally we will see an example of a program that promotes health prevention.
Current Health Status of American Indians and Alaska Natives
The American Indian and Alaska Native populations make up about 2% of the total U.S. population, numbering roughly 5.2 million, according to the 2013 census. American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), differ from the national average in culture, socioeconomic status, and education. The percentage of AI/AN’s who lacked health insurance in 2013 was 26.9% compared to the 16.6% of the national average (CDC, 2015). They have limited access to employer-sponsored health coverage due to working in low wage jobs and jobs that don’t offer insurance (Artiga, et. al., 2013). AI/AN have the highest poverty rate of all ethnic groups at 0.9% to 1.5% of the total population. This group is more likely to report being in fair or poor health. When comparing their health status to that of the national average, we see that they have a diabetes rate that is twice as high, and chronic liver disease that is three times higher. We can also see that the leading cause of death for AI/AN’s is cancer, whereas the leading cause of death for the national average is heart disease. The current health status of this ethnic group is greatly affected by