{"id":42150,"date":"2024-10-21T00:02:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T04:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=42150"},"modified":"2024-10-20T19:18:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T23:18:54","slug":"cronkite-news-indian-country-diabetes-funding-set-to-expire-yet-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/10\/21\/cronkite-news-indian-country-diabetes-funding-set-to-expire-yet-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Indian Country diabetes funding set to expire yet again"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Morgan<\/a>
Morgan Farley of Native Americans for Community Action checks the blood pressure of Maribel Rodriguez during a visit at the non-profit in Flagstaff, Arizona. Photo by Oakley Seiter \/ Cronkite News<\/figcaption>\r\n
Funding stalled for federal program that\u2019s reducing diabetes among Arizona Native Americans<\/div>\r\n
Monday, October 21, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Gabrielle Wallace<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal funding expires at the end of the year for a program that has reduced diabetes among Native Americans. Congress has yet to act, leaving providers and patients worried.<\/p>\r\n

Diabetes is especially prevalent among Native Americans. In Arizona, 27% of Indigenous adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, compared to 10% of the White population, according to 2021 data from the Center for the Future of Arizona.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt would be very devastating to many tribal communities if the program wasn\u2019t renewed, and it would be a huge loss for public health,\u201d said Caitrin McCarron Shuy, government relations director at the National Indian Health Board, a group that advocates on behalf of tribal governments.<\/p>\r\n

American Indian and Alaska Native communities experienced the first-ever decrease in diabetes from 2013 to 2017, according to research from the Indian Health Service \u2013 down 5%, after decades of increases starting in the 1970s.<\/p>\r\n

Public health experts credit the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, launched in 1997 with bipartisan congressional support.<\/p>\r\n

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\n\t\t\n\t\t\tCronkite News: Non-profit takes Native approach to diabetes\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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Native Americans for Community Action provides health services primarily to Native people, on and off reservation, in Arizona.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"Indianz.Com\"\t\tIndianz.Com\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n

From 2004 to 2024, the program has provided $150 million per year in grants to tribal diabetes programs. Funding remained flat for two decades as inflation eroded the value of the allocation by 40%. The NIHB has pressed Congress to boost it to $250 million per year.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThere have been some major positive outcomes from this program,\u201d said Carmen Hardin, director of the diabetes treatment and prevention division of the Indian Health Service \u2013 part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\r\n

But without funding, she added, \u201cultimately the Native people are the ones that will suffer.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Aides to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on why the program seems to have stalled.<\/p>\r\n

In Arizona, 27 programs received $32.5 million this year \u2013 22% of the nationwide total.<\/p>\r\n

Most of the Arizona recipients are tribal programs that rely entirely or almost entirely on the federal funding. A handful provide general health care to the community, such as the San Carlos Apache Healthcare Corporation, and have other funding sources, too.<\/p>\r\n

These programs provide treatment and prevention as well as diabetes-related education, physical activity and nutrition information.<\/p>\r\n

#DYK<\/a> this week was #DiabetesAwarenessWeek<\/a>? To round the week out, we wanted to highlight the impact #SDPI<\/a> has had on diabetes in Indian Country. Want to learn more about SDPI? Head to https:\/\/t.co\/8PXn7hlzCT<\/a>! #HealthyNativeCommunities<\/a> #NativesLeadPublicHealth<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/08lC5WmvLp<\/a><\/p>— NIHB (@NIHB1) June 14, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>