Every baby born in Alaska undergoes a series of tests just before they leave the hospital to go home. A small blood sample is collected from the baby’s heel and sent to a laboratory for testing that targets about 50 conditions. These routine tests are done to identify any possible disorders in the baby’s body chemistry. In July, the State of Alaska launched a new DNA test to better identify babies born with a gene variant known as CPT1A Arctic ...

Since 2013, more effective drug therapies for treating hepatitis C have increased the rate at which our people are completing treatment that leads to a cure for the deadly virus. Joining a family of highly effective direct acting antiviral therapies available at ANMC is a newly licensed drug consisting of sofosbuvir and valpatasvir (Epclusa®, Gilead Sciences, Inc.). This is a fixed-dose combination tablet that covers six hepatitis C virus genotypes and is approved for use in persons with serious liver ...

This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the expansion of the Local Environmental Observers (LEO) Network program, a concept initiated and championed by ANTHC and Alaska Tribal communities. The EPA expansion will extend the LEO Network reach into the Lower 48 states. This expansion will develop a Lower 48 LEO network hub at Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, Washington and create a model for the other 35 tribal colleges and universities in the Lower 48 to replicate across ...

To continue making progress toward our vision that Alaska Native people are the healthiest people in the world, the Consortium must be aware of the health issues that our people face. A new report, Alaska Native Mortality Update: 2009-2013, provides information about the ten leading causes of death for Alaska Native people, which are cancer, heart disease, unintentional injuries, suicide, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic liver disease, pneumonia and influenza, diabetes and alcohol abuse. Reliable information on cause ...

With four years to go before the target date of 2020, new data from the Healthy Alaskans 2020 initiative shows progress is being made on meeting the ten-year goals for improving the health of all Alaskans. Of the 25 leading health priorities tracked, Alaska has met, or is on target to meet, 14 of the scorecard goals. The leading health priorities include: reducing the rates of cancer, suicide, and interpersonal violence and sexual assault; decreasing alcohol, tobacco, and drug use; ...

During the past six years, ANTHC Clinical & Research Services and the Mayo Clinic, in collaboration with Southcentral Foundation (SCF), have been conducting the MAW (Biomarker Feedback to Motivate Tobacco Cessation in Pregnant Alaska Native Women) Study. In the first phase of the study, we demonstrated that prenatal smoking exposes infants in utero to nicotine, the addictive component of tobacco, and NNK, a tobacco-specific carcinogen. In phase two, we presented these findings to pregnant and postpartum women to obtain their ...