Health Equity Round-Up (March 16, 2026)

In the past few weeks, Indian Country has seen new clinics opening and earning recognition; a university launched a new program pairing healthcare students with Native American youth; the Navajo Nation opted into New Mexico’s traditional healing reimbursement model; and a new study showed life expectancy for Native people has increased by 4.5 years.

Here is Native News Online’s round-up of health equity news.

Recognition

The White Earth Nation received an accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board, making it the eighth tribe nationwide and the first in Minnesota to receive the recognition.

The Santa Ynez Tribal Health Clinic earned a renewal of its national accreditation from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC). The clinic is located on the Santa Ynez Reservation and is one of two in Santa Barbara County to obtain the accreditation.

Openings

The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians opened its new pharmacy to serve both tribal and non-tribal citizens in Roseburg, Oregon. Last year, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that the state has the worst pharmacy access, second only to Alaska.

“Both rural communities and tribal communities, they face a lot of barriers basically to basic healthcare,” Lindsay Campman, the tribe’s director of communication, told local news station KEZI.  “And so that is the community of Roseburg and we’re excited to step up and help fill a very small gap in that.”

Pipeline

Washington State University has launched a program to foster interest in healthcare careers among Native elementary students. Dubbed “Little Birds,” the program brings WSU students from different health disciplines to elementary schools once a month. The college students help the kids play games, work through puzzles and conduct experiments that reflect their specialty.

Little Birds is the university’s latest effort to create a career pipeline for Native people in healthcare roles. Only 1% of enrolled medical students  and 4% of enrolled nursing students in the U.S. are Native. Experts say more Native healthcare workers are needed to mitigate health disparities in Indian Country.

Traditional Healing

The Navajo Nation became thefirst tribe in New Mexico to opt into the state’s health care coverage of traditional Native healing practices. Now, patients can be referred by the Indian Health Service to traditional healers, who will be reimbursed by Medicaid.

Violence

Native people experience elevated rates of police violence on or near reservations, according to a new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study examined data on Native people killed by police from 2013 to 2024. It found that nearly 75% of deaths from police violence occurred on or within 10 miles of a reservation.

Life Expectancy

A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that while life expectancy has risen 4.5 years for American Indian and Alaska Native people, Native people continue to have the lowest life expectancy of all demographics in the United States.

A Reckoning

Last week, Native News Online continued our coverage of a groundbreaking memorial approved unanimously by New Mexico lawmakers last month — House Memorial 32 — directing the state to investigate the history and ongoing impacts of forced and coerced sterilization of Native women in the state. We talked to two women behind the memorial about why it’s important to tell the truth about our country’s disturbing past in its treatment of Native women, and what they want for the future.

Long Reads

The Imprint published a feature article on the fight for reproductive freedom in Indian Country. Written by a Cherokee Nation citizen and award-winning journalist, Suzette Brower, the piece explores the colonization of birth in Native communities and the women who are leading the movement to return to traditional birthing practices. Brower brings readers into the duality of medicalized and Indigenous birthways through the story of a Seneca Nation mother whose sixth child was born at home with a team of Seneca midwives and doulas.

Culture is Prevention

Native American youth face the highest suicide rates of any group in the U.S. Native New Online Senior Health Equity Editor published a multi-media series exploring the driving factors behind the numbers and how traditional teachings and healing could save lives across Indian Country. She talked to experts about how historical trauma plays a role and where mainstream behavioral health treatment falls short in Native communities. In a follow-up piece, Wild introduces readers to 23-year-old Lummi Nation citizen Meranda Lee Jones, who survived suicidal ideation in her teens and found healing in the traditional sport of canoe pulling.

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