Report urges more Tribal control over food systems to improve health
By Mallory Black, Native Health News
Alliance
SAN DIEGO – The way food is pro-
duced, accessed and funded on Tribal lands
must be overhauled to combat the obesity
and diabetes epidemics plaguing American
Indians, according to a recent report.
Feeding Ourselves, a report com-
missioned by the American Heart Asso-
ciation, analyzed American Indian and
Alaska Native food systems and resulting
health disparities and found that American
Indians are twice as likely as the rest of
the U.S. population to develop a nutrition-
related health problem.
More than 80 percent of American
Indian adults are overweight or obese,
according to the Indian Health Clinic
Reporting System. Four-year-old Ameri-
can Indian children have twice the obesity
of their white counterparts, according to
a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study.
The report found that most Tribal lands
are in food deserts, areas that lack access to
healthy food. It detailed the historical and
economic factors that have broken down
the American Indian food system.
“American Indians and Alaska Natives
since time immemorial have relied on our
traditional foods, or First Foods, to sustain
us,” said Brian Cladoosby, president of the
National Congress of American Indians
in Washington, D.C. “The ability of Indian
Country to feed itself with healthy, local
and traditional foods is not only a critical
part of a strong Tribal community, it’s vital
to Tribal sovereignty.”
American Indians in the United States
have never fully recovered from being
separated from Native food sources and
subsequent federal government food pro-
grams, according to the report.
Improving the food system must also
factor the loss of culture and poverty, as
well as sedentary lifestyles.
One solution is for American Indians
to grow food on Tribal lands and sell it to
the federal government as part of federal
feeding programs, said Janie Hipp, an
author of the report and director of the
Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initia-
tive at the University of Arkansas School
of Law in Fayetteville.
“We could use those lands to combat
hunger, keep food local and alleviate
hunger for Tribal members regionally,”
Hipp said. “When you start to think of
the potential of that, it gets very exciting.”
The report also calls for more Tribal
control over the American Indian food
system, incentives for buying healthy
foods and programs funded by the federal
government and foundations to educate
and enable American Indians to make
improvements.
Public health experts say a lack of
data has prevented effective solutions.
Unless something changes, Native
people will be continually left out of the
conversations and strategies to address these
issues, said Michael Roberts, president of
the First Nations Development Institute.
This story is part of an occasional
series about the health impact of access to
healthy foods and safe places to be active.
Mallory Black’s reporting was undertaken
for Voices for Healthy Kids, a joint initia-
tive of the American Heart Association
and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Courtesy photo
Feeding Ourselves, a report commissioned by the American Heart Association,
looks at health disparities in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
For more information about the Siletz Tribe, please visit ctsi.nsn.us.
CEDARR
Community Efforts Demonstrating the Ability to
Rebuild and Restore
Mission Statement
We will utilize resources to prevent the use of alcohol and other drugs,
delinquency and violence; we will seek to reduce the barriers to treatment
and support those who choose abstinance.
Nov. 4 • Noon
Siletz Community Health Clinic
200 Gwee-Shut Road, Siletz
FIREWOOD
AREA
OPEN
Permits required
Siletz Tribal Behavioral Health Programs
Prevention, Outpatient Treatment, and Women’s and Men’s Transitional
Siletz: 800-600-5599 or
541-444-8286
Eugene: 541-484-4234
Narcotics Anonymous Toll-Free
Help Line – 877-233-4287
Salem: 503-390-9494
Portland: 503-238-1512
For information on Alcoholics
Anonymous: aa-oregon.org
Logsden Road (next to USDA)
Open to all Tribal members
Obtain permits from
Natural Resources Department
November 2015
•
Siletz News
•
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