Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and partners were awarded a five-year, $20 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to address health disparities facing Native communities in Alaska and Montana. The grant will fund the American Indian-Alaska Native Clinical and Translational Research Program. Montana State University will be the home institution for this project. Partner organizations include Blackfeet Community College, University of Montana, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Anchorage and Southcentral Foundation. The center will focus ...

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; ...