Food is Medicine, Native Mothers, Indian Health Service | Health Equity Round Up, July 31

In the past couple of weeks, a Native chef has released a much-anticipated memoir; a new study shows that the majority of Native maternal deaths are preventable; and the newest federally recognized tribe’s future in the Indian Health Service is uncertain.

Here is our latest roundup of Health Equity News across Indian Country.

Food is Medicine

The long-awaited memoir from Nephi Craig, “Our Knives Will Save Us: Dispatches from a White Mountain Apache Chef,” hit shelves earlier this month and is receiving rave reviews from critics and readers alike. Craig takes readers on a serpentine journey from the rez to the upper echelons of the culinary world to behind bars in an Arizona country jail and back to the rez, all the while asking what reclaiming Indigenous foodways means in a world that weaponized sustenance to destroy Native communities. Craig talked to Native News Online Senior Health Equity Reporter Elyse Wild about his new book, his work leading the nutritional recovery program at the White Mountain Apache tribe-owned Rainbow Treatment Center, and what culinary school and jail taught him about food. 

On the Navajo Nation, researchers tested a theory that culturally centered, healthy meals could increase positive health outcomes for Native people suffering from chronic illness. Participants all had some form of heart failure and were provided with 14 meals per week, made from ingredients sourced on the reservation. The meals were credited with increasing food security and lowering the number of hospital visits for heart disease. 

A newly published survey showed that most Native people are willing to make the shift to a plant-based diet to improve their health, but accessibility and affordability might be a barrier for many. The survey was conducted by Native Food for Life, a program that educates Native communities about plant-based diets centered around traditional ingredients, like the Three Sisters Diet that incorporates squash, corn, and beans, crops that are central to many Southwestern tribes. 

Dr. Josie Howard (Cherokee) is one of the researchers behind the survey. Howard told Native News Online that nutritional, traditional foods are about more than improving physical health.

“We think of food as just calories, nutrition intake, but it’s not,” Howard said. “It has so many meanings, and it exists in a context of our homes, our families, our communities, and then our connection to our ancestors.”

Capitol Hill, Settlements, IHS

A bill introduced last week by Rep. Melanie A Stansbury (D-NM) would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to include tribes and tribal organizations in grants for public health emergencies. Currently, the CDC is authorized to distribute $685 million in funds to state and local governments for public health emergencies. The bill raises the funds to $750 million, and requires 5% of that to be distributed to Native communities. 

Last week, the Alaska Native Health Consortium will receive a $400 million settlement from the Department of Justice, concluding a five-year-long legal battle over contract support costs tied to federally funded healthcare programs. 

Native American Calling Tuesday reported on efforts to bring veterinary care to Alaska Native villages where the high number of stray dogs poses a public health risk. 

Next week, the Senate is expected to vote on the confirmation of Mark Cruz, a citizen of the Klamath Tribe, as director of the Indian Health Service (IHS). Cruz was nominated by President Donald Trump on June 1 and advanced through the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs following a confirmation hearing held in June. The IHS, tasked with providing health care to more than 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives across Indian Country, has been without permanent leadership since January 2025.

After receiving federal recognition last year, the Lumbee Tribe is fighting for access to IHS services for its citizens, but with the nearest IHS clinic a two-hour drive from the tribe’s central location, the tribe will have to shore up healthcare resources using its own funds. KFF reported the story. 

Native Mothers 

Native mothers die at some of the highest rates in America’s maternal health crisis. A new study showed that those deaths largely stem from mental health crises and are almost entirely preventable. Native News Online talked to the Native women leading the charge to make birth and motherhood safer for Native women by bringing cultural practices into the health systems that fail them. 

In South Minneapolis, a group of Native mothers has been gathering once a week to support each other and learn cultural practices. The Sahan Journal wrote about the Women of Traditional Birthing group, and talked to women for whom the group has helped break cycles of generational trauma as they raise the next generation.

“I’m trying to do as much self-work as I possibly can, so it’s as watered down as possible for her [Sunflower], and for the next generations too,” Kaija Longcrow told Sahan Journal reporter Shubhanjana Das. “I’m just trying to be a good relative in that way, and have the intention of not harming people, just changing the cycle of dysfunction and trauma.” 

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