Native American health

Melissa Wyaco supervises about two dozen public health nurses who search for patients across the Navajo Nation who have tested positive for or have been exposed to syphilis.

Health & Safety

Native Americans are hardest hit by syphilis surge

7:01am March 21, 2024

by Cecilia Nowell

Rates are so bad in Native American communities that public health experts have asked the federal government to declare an emergency. Inadequate prenatal care may be partly to blame.

A sign calling attention to drug overdoses is posted in a gas station on the White Earth reservation in Ogema, Minn.. A new study shows that early deaths due to addiction and suicide have impacted American Indian and Alaska Native communities far more than white communities.

Native Americans left out of 'deaths of despair' research

5:00am February 01, 2023

by Rhitu Chatterjee

During the time that deaths from addiction and suicide among white Americans rose by about 9%, deaths among Native Americans shot up by about 30%, a new study shows.

Queue Listen Now

Working Dogs for Conservation trainer Michele Vasquez clips a vest onto Charlie, a Labrador retriever, to let him know he's working. Dogs like Charlie will help sniff out chronic wasting disease in deer and elk scat. They will also help find mink and otte

Dogs are sniffing out disease in animals vital to traditions of the Blackfeet tribe

10:04am June 29, 2022

by Aaron Bolton

Montana's Blackfeet Nation is experimenting with a new way to detect chronic wasting disease in animals and toxic substances in plants used by tribal members for food and cultural practices.

Native tribes have responded to the pandemic with creative ways to stay connected. Veronica Concho and Raymond Concho Jr. grew traditional Pueblo foods and Navajo crops with their grandchildren Kaleb and Kateri Allison-Burbank in Waterflow, N.M.

Hit hard by COVID, Native Americans come together to protect families and elders

11:25pm November 24, 2021

by Rhitu Chatterjee

Indigenous Americans suffer disproportionate effects of COVID, including the mental health impact. But a collective mindset has helped them find creative solutions to buffering the stress.