Last time, we explored a few examples of community based research [1] and intervention which were effective in addressing health issues faced by Native American women [2, 3]. This week, we will discuss how native women have and continue to be the forefront of advocacy and implementation of health resources and services through a few examples of interventions [4].
Here are Native American Women leaders taking action around the US:
STDS
HIV/AIDS is well known to disproportionately impact women of color within the United States, especially Native American Women. Furthermore, Native American women face elevated rates of STDs. For example, native women are 4 times more likely to report having Chlamydia than native men. However, men of all ethnicities generally have higher rates of HIV/AIDS than women, but this makes women more vulnerable as well because "HIV is anywhere from two to twenty times more efficiently transmitted from men to women" according to Irene Vernon who has published her findings in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal. Women living in the United States are not affected equally either. Of all women who reported AIDS contraction in 1998, certain ethnic groups were found to be more affected than others. For example, at this time 25.6 percent of African American women, 16.7 percent of Native American women, and 8.3% of white women reported contraction of AIDS [9]. To learn more HIV/AIDS prevalence in Native Americans, check out this fact sheet generated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/racialEthnic/aian/
To lighten this story up a bit, there are some native women who have been able to find a healthy way to live even with HIV/AIDS and work to raise awareness in native communities. Native women such as Donnie Blackwolf (died of AIDS in December 1997), Shana Cozad, and Lisa Tiger are all known as women warriors. These women warriors have been exposed to HIV/AIDS and the many risk factors, such as poverty, child maltreatment, rape, etc., but serve as HIV/AIDS awareness and education advocates across the nation [4]. Furthermore, the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center, which has a board of directors primarily composed of women, was founded in 1987 to eliminate AIDS, promote advocacy, and provide resources/training. There is now an official National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which you can learn more about here http://www.womenshealth.gov/nwghaad/ that is supported by the National Indian Health Board (http://www.nihb.org/public_health/proj_hiv.php). Interestingly enough, the elected NIHB chairperson is a woman named Cathy Abramason. Girl power!
Health and Wellness
As we have discussed in earlier blogs, chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes unequally affect Native Americans in comparison to the average US population. The American Indian Institute (Aii) established at the University of Oklahoma in 1951 is a non-profit research, service, and training organization that focuses on health and wellness in Native American communities. Aii hosts an annual Native Women and Men’s Wellness Conference in addition to many other programs. The Director, Officer Manager & Conference Planner, and Program & Conference Planner of the American Indian Institute, which are the top three positions, are all held by Native American Women [5].
Honoring Native Life, is an organization to prevent suicide in Native American populations of New Mexico. They provide a variety of hotline, education, and community based resources and aim to honor native life. It is interesting to note that 7 out of 8 members of the Honoring Native Life team are native american women, and all 8 are women [6].
We see a similar situation among Lakota women of the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. In a makeshift camp named “Camp Zero Tolerance,” a group of Lakota women have set up to protest alcohol abuse in the neighboring town of Whiteclay. Whiteclay is a small town that sits on the outskirts of the dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and is not associated with the reservation. Whiteclay only has a population of 14 people, but it has 4 different liquor stores that sell “about 12,500 cans of beer per day or 4.9 cans per year” [7]. The protesters of Camp Zero Tolerance believe that the sale of liquor about 300 feet from the border of the reservation is a major problem that contributes to issues within the reservation, such as domestic violence, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, etc. [7].
Violence
In our last example today, there is an organization called the Mending of the Sacred Hoop which works to end violence against Native American women and children through restoring safety and sovereignty to local communities and sacredness and power of Native Women in tribal society. The organization was originally supported by and received funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women, after the passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. Now, it is an independent and non-profit organization that is managed by staff dominated by Native American Women with the ratio of “Native American Woman” to “Other” being 4 to 1 [8].
While many of these interventions require ways to evaluate their efforts, the fact that they are run primarily by Native American women speaks highly of native women's strength and fortitude. Even when native women face the harshest of situations and worst of health statistics, they still do not give up. In fact, they go beyond helping themselves and work to help the community as a whole. Maybe, it is because of their strong cultural ties to community or because they are tired of the status quo . . . the reason likely differs from woman to woman. The main point: Native American woman are making a difference, and we can support these women by understanding their history, plight, and efforts. Thank you for taking the time to understand them with me by reading this blog.
Citations:
[1] Holkup, Patricia A., PhD, RN, Toni Tripp-Reimer, PhD, RN, RAAN, Emily Matt Salois, MSW, ACSW, and Clarann Weinert, SC, PhD, RN, FAAN. “Community-based Participatory Research: An Approach to Intervention Research With a Native American Community.” Advances in Nursing Science 27.3 (2004): 162-75. NCBI. Web.
[2] Hobfoll, Stevan E., Anita Jackson, Ivonne Hobfoll, Charles A. Pierce, and Sara Young. “The Impact of Communal-Mastery Versus Self-Mastery on Emotional Outcomes During Stressful Conditions: A Prospective Study of Native American Women.” American Journal of Community Psychology 30.6 (2002): 853-71. Springer.com. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
[3] Gone, Joseph P. “A Community-based Treatment for Native American Historical Trauma: Prospects for Evidence-based Practice.” Spirituality in Clinical Practice 1.S (2013): 78-94. 2013. Web.
[4] Joe, Jennie Rose., and Francine C. Gachupin. Health and Social Issues of Native American Women. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2012. Print.
[5] http://www.aii.outreach.ou.edu/
[6] http://honoringnativelife.org/
[7]http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/pine-ridge-indian-reservation-women-lead-fight-against-alcohol/
[8] http://mshoop.org/
[9] Vernon, I. (2010). Facts and Myths of AIDS and Native American Women. American Indian Culture Research Journal, 24 (3), 93-110. http://aisc.metapress.com/content/a08g7n6h1804mp5p/
[10] http://www.nnaapc.org/about/board.htm
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