Support for Implementation of a Department-wide Ten Percent Set Aside within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to Advance Tribal Health Equity

WHEREAS the National Indian Health Board, established in 1972, serves all Federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal governments by advocating for the improvement of health care delivery to American Indians and Alaska Natives, as well as upholding the federal government’s trust responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal governments; and

WHEREAS American Indians and Alaska Natives have suffered physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual harms resulting from historical and intergenerational trauma that began with European colonization and imperialistic policies implemented by the United States government; and

WHEREAS the U.S. government spent centuries perpetuating policies of physical and cultural genocide against American Indians and Alaska Natives and intended to erase American Indian and Alaska Native peoples and cultures; and

WHEREAS the over 100-year implementation of cultural genocide through policies like the federal Indian Boarding Schools and forced sterilization lasted well into the 20th century and is not relegated to distant history, but exists in the living memory of many Tribal citizens today; and

WHEREAS these societal injustices have led to harmful disconnection of American Indians and Alaska Natives from their communities, cultures, and traditional lifeways; and

WHEREAS these systemic harms towards Indian Country have created entrenched societal barriers to good health and wellness for American Indians and Alaska Natives; and

WHEREAS infrastructure, programs, and institutions serving the health and wellness of American Indians and Alaska Natives have been severely and chronically underfunded by the US government for centuries; and

WHEREAS federal health services to maintain and improve the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives are consonant with and required by the federal government’s historical and unique legal relationship with, and resulting responsibility to, the American Indian and Alaska Native people; and