Open AccessEthics in Public Health Research
Author(s) -
Stephen J. Kunitz
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2007.114538
Subject(s) - per capita , public health , demography , population , mortality rate , medicine , per capita income , inflation (cosmology) , gerontology , environmental health , sociology , physics , theoretical physics , nursing
Mortality rates for American Indians (including Alaska Natives) declined for much of the 20th century, but data published by the Indian Health Service indicate that since the mid-1980s, age-adjusted deaths for this population have increased both in absolute terms and compared with rates for the White American population. This increase appears to be primarily because of the direct and indirect effects of type 2 diabetes. Despite increasing appropriations for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, per capita expenditures for Indian health, including third-party reimbursements, remain substantially lower than those for other Americans and, when adjusted for inflation, have been essentially unchanged since the early 1990s. I argue that inadequate funding for health services has contributed significantly to the increased death rate.