Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board: Indian Leadership for Indian Health

Research Studies

Public Health Research and Surveillance

The Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board’s Tribal Epidemiology Center (the EpiCenter) engages in public health practice, research and surveillance on behalf of the 43 Tribes in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.  We aim to fulfill the mission of public health “in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy.” At the EpiCenter we provide technical support for Tribal public health practice and surveillance.  We also engage, with Tribal approval, in public health programmatic practice, research and surveillance. Visit our program web sites to view the many programs that help out communities to improve health status.

The Epicenter’s three core public health functions are:

  • The assessment and monitoring of the health of communities and populations at risk to identify health problems and priorities;
  • The formulation of public policies designed to solve identified local and national health problems and priorities;
  • To assure that all populations have access to appropriate and cost-effective care, including health promotion and disease prevention services, and evaluation of the effectiveness of that care.

What is Health Surveillance?

Health surveillance is the ongoing, systematic use of routinely collected health data to guide public health action in a timely fashion. Surveillance systems count health events and health services as they occur. Some of our programs collect information on risk factors related to various diseases, including foods, water supply, and drug use, while other programs measure health behaviors and environmental factors (e.g., air, food, or water quality) independently of any health events associated with them.

Background

American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) carry a disproportionate burden of ill health relative to the general population. Life expectancy for AI/ANs is 71 years, in contrast to 75 years for the United States population. While the infant mortality rate does not differ between AI/ANs and the national population, infant mortality due to sudden infant death syndrome and accidents is greater by factors of two and three, respectively, for the AI/AN population. AI/AN children between ages one and four have a 70 percent higher mortality rate than the general population, while those aged five to fourteen have a 40 percent higher rate. Mortality due to accidents and homicide is greater by a factor of two for both age groups, in contrast to the national population. For AI/AN adults, relative to the national population, age-adjusted mortality rates are nearly three times higher for death due to accidental injuries and diabetes, four times higher for death due to liver disease, and 50 percent higher for death due to pneumonia, influenza, suicide, and homicide.

References

Public health. (n.d.). McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Retrieved December 26, 2006, from Answers.com
Web site: http://www.answers.com/topic/public-health
Teutsch, S. M., and Churchill, R. E., eds. (1999). Principles and Practices of Public Health Surveillance. New York: Oxford University Press.