Health

How the pandemic has shortened life in indigenous communities


Carol Schumacher, 56, who grew up in the remote community of Chilchinbeto in the Navajo Nation, has lost 42 family members to Covid-19 in the past two years. The dead included two brothers aged 55 and 54, and cousins ​​aged 18 and 19.

Ms. Schumacher returned to the Navajo Nation from her home in Wisconsin this summer to grieve with her family. She knew what to expect, as an adult when she booked in Arizona. But what she saw left her reeling.

She said, “The nearest hospital is a long way down the dirt road and there is no guarantee of the quality of care there even if you arrive in time. Some families don’t even have transportation or running water. Imagine dealing with that. “

Now, federal health researchers have put a number on the misery that Schumacher and so many other families in Indigenous communities experienced during the first two years of the pandemic.

In 2020 and 2021, as the coronavirus swept through the United States, the life expectancy of Native Americans and Alaska Natives fell by 6 and a half years — a drop that astounded the researchers.

The figure comparable to all Americans is about three years, which in itself is a monstrous milestone not seen in nearly a century.

What might make Native Americans and Native Alaskans vulnerable to the pandemic? Experts say there is no simple diagnosis and no easy fix.

Suffering is inextricably linked with a long history of poverty, inadequate access to health care, weak infrastructure and cramped housing, much of a legacy of promises. of broken government and centuries of bigotry.

If researchers were surprised by this finding, many people living and working in indigenous communities are not.

“There is nothing strange or unusual about the population,” said Dr Ann Bullock, former director of diabetes treatment and prevention at the federal Indian Health Service and a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. our number.

“This is simply what happens biologically to populations that are chronically and deeply stressed and deprived of resources.”

Of the ethnic and racial groups tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Native Americans and Alaska Natives are the most disproportionately affected by Covid. Case rates in these groups are 50 percent higher than in white Americans.

Native Americans and Alaska Natives are nearly three times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid and twice as likely to die from it.

A further two-and-a-half years in 2021 cuts reported on Tuesday brought the total to more than six years, meaning life expectancy has shortened to 65 years in the first two years of the pandemic.

Dr Noreen Goldman, professor of demography and public affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Studies, said: “We already know the mortality rate is high, but it hasn’t been factored into life expectancy.

Since life expectancy in the developing world is roughly the same, “it’s easy to understand how drastic it can be,” she added.

But while excess deaths – numbers larger than expected in a normal year – in the first year of the pandemic were largely due to viral infections in these communities, drug overdoses and Chronic liver disease plays a role comparable to Covid in increasing mortality. in 2021.

However, these causes are not unrelated. The pandemic has exacerbated health risks already ingrained in Native Americans and Alaska Natives, according to a new government report.

Groups struggle with high rates of obesity as well as unusually high rates of diabetes, for example: About 14.5% of adults have the disease, a higher rate than any other ethnic group other. Both conditions increase the odds of severe illness and death from Covid.

Such an abundance of risk factors has made it possible for the virus to spread widely, causing terrible damage.

Schumacher, who worked as a tutoring coordinator at a high school in Madison, Wis., says grappling with deaths has taken a toll on her own health. “I was dealing with diabetes, but plus, I wasn’t prepared to deal with so much loss,” she said.

Ms. Schumacher noted that many Navajos died relatively young from other causes, including her mother, who died at age 65 from lung disease, and her father, who died aged 65 in an auto accident caused by a car accident. caused by drunk drivers.

Ms Schumacher said: “Covid is just the tip of the iceberg. “People die too young because they are abandoned. Their access to better health care is non-existent. “

Patricia Sekaquaptewa, a member of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and former magistrate of the Hopi Court of Appeals, lost her aunt, Marlene Sekaquaptewa, the matriarch of a large family and political leader, who died at the age of 79 after contracting Covid.

But Ms. Sekaquaptewa stressed that other lingering festering problems, such as arsenic-contaminated well water and exposure to uranium spills, also contributed to the Hopi’s poor health.

“And that’s something, not to mention alcohol abuse, that’s been around since the day I was born,” said Ms. Sekaquaptewa. She said she has lost at least three close family members, all men, to alcohol-related illnesses in the past two years.

Dr. Jennie R. Joe, professor emeritus of family and community medicine at the Wassaja Carlos Montezuma Native American Medical Center at the University of Arizona, says persistent poverty coupled with chronic illness contributes to shortening of the average life expectancy of Native Americans and Native Alaskans. .

But Dr Joe warned that the drop could be even deeper than the latest figures indicated because death certificates in some areas sometimes misclassify race.

Dr Joe said: “It is not uncommon for an Indigenous person to be identified as Indigenous on their birth certificate but listed differently on their death certificate, often listed as Caucasian. .

“Therefore, it is safe to say that the current life expectancy reported for Native Americans is probably a case of understatement,” she said.

Despite mass vaccination campaigns, in which some tribal states at first outperformed the rest of the country, the pandemic has exposed other factors that have made Native Americans particularly vulnerable to the virus. .

In the Navajo Nation, which spans 27,000 square miles across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, scarcity of potable water in some communities makes it difficult for people to wash their hands to prevent the spread of the virus. Respiratory problems caused by indoor pollution – the result of wood and coal used to heat many homes in Navajo – also increase the risk of Covid.

And while close-knit families have long helped Navajo cope, the situation where generations live under one roof makes it easy for the virus to spread and difficult to isolate patients who test positive. count.

Another challenge is the badly underfunded Indian Health Service, a government program that provides healthcare to 2.2 million members of the nation’s tribal communities.

Even before the pandemic, the agency was facing aging facilities, lack of funding and supplies, and insufficient numbers of healthcare providers and hospital beds. . These weaknesses have contributed to disproportionately high rates of infection and death among Native Americans, sparking renewed anger at what critics describe as decades of national repression. Congress and successive administrations in Washington abandoned.

A New York Times analysis found that in states with Indian Health Service hospitals, mortality from preventable diseases – such as alcohol-related illness, diabetes and liver disease – three to five times higher for Native Americans, who rely heavily on those hospitals. , compared to the other groups combined.

Stacy A. Bohlen, executive director of India’s National Health Commission, said the most pressing vulnerability of Native Americans is invisibility. “This is the result of a violent system eloquently designed to destroy us,” she said.



Source link

news7f

News7F: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button