Building a successful public health program Medicine, Nursing Essay

Strategic Planning: Structuring A Successful Healthcare Program for
Native Americans
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Strategic Planning: Structuring A Successful Healthcare Program for Native Americans
Introduction
The Native Americans, also referred to as Alaska Natives, are among the world's largest marginalized communities. Approximately 5.2 million Native Americans reside in North America, representing 1.7% of the US population today, (Sequist et al. 2011). According to the Census Bureau report of 2018, out of these 5.2 million, 28% lived in Alaska, 17% in Oklahoma, 15% in New Mexico, 11.8% in South Dakota, and around 9% in Montana. A big chunk of these people lives below the poverty lines. The Native American community lacks representation. It is also deprived of most healthcare benefits provided by the federal government.
Discussion
Despite the efforts made by the government to mend the gap between the Native Americans, the community's condition has not improved much. According to the American Bar Association, Native Americans are dying every day due to preventable diseases (Smith 2018). Although the federal government established a funds pool in 1955 for the community's healthcare needs, the Indian Health Service (IHS), it has not done much to change anything.
The community has long been a target of discrimination and is under-funded. John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reported that the IHS's 2016 budget dedicated only a fraction of medical allocation per person to Alaska Natives, which was 1/6th of the medical care funding federal inmates receive annually. This budget is scarce, considering the population that is to be catered to.
A report published by the U.S Consensus Bureau stated that roughly 27% of Native American families live below the poverty lines, with little to no margin to afford healthcare, (Sarche & Spicer, 2008). This is due to unemployment. Many households struggle, severely, to make ends meet, let alone get the proper medical attention. This is why the infant mortality rates are also higher among Native Americans.
One of the significant challenges in assuring adequate medical care provided to the community is 'cross-cultural communication,' such as a language barrier. It shows the inability to build a practical understanding of a healthy lifestyle and methods to improve life quality after diagnosis. Another is limited or sub-standardized medical access. There are around 17 functioning hospitals in areas with dense populations of Native Americans. There are numerous loopholes in the medical infrastructure, which further downgrade the healthcare conditions.
In healthcare, the major stakeholders are people seeking medical care and the doctors offering it. In this case, both the stakeholders are deprived of what they deserve. The patients do not have adequate knowledge and personal funds to support their treatments, whereas the doctors are u...