WHEREAS, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), established in 1972, serves all Federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Tribal governments by advocating for the improvement of health care delivery to AI/ANs, as well as upholding the Federal government’s trust responsibility to AI/AN Tribal governments; and

WHEREAS AI/AN are faced with the highest rates of type 2 diabetes in the United States, 2.8 times higher than the U.S; and

WHEREAS, the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) was created by Congress in 1997 to address the disproportionate burden of type 2 diabetes on Indian populations; and

WHEREAS, SDPI has become our nation’s most strategic and effective federal initiative to combat diabetes and its complications; and

WHEREAS the SDPI is producing a significant return on the federal investment such as the mean total cholesterol level has decreased by 16% from 1997-2009, and mean LDL (“bad”cholesterol) has been reduced 20%; the mean blood sugar level (A1c) has decreased 11% – from 9.0% in 1996 to 7.9% in 2009; and new cases of diabetes-related dialysis in AI/ANs decreased 31% between 1999-2007, while remaining relatively unchanged in whites and blacks; and