11 Jun NDSU American Indian Public Health Resource Center accepted into national network
A new membership in a national network of public health experts will help the American Indian Public Health Resource Center at North Dakota State University better serve communities in the state. The Center was accepted as a developmental/provisional member of the National Network of Public Health Institutes.
The two-year provisional membership in the network provides NDSU’s American Indian Public Health Resource Center access to a national network of more than 8,000 subject-matter experts and organizational partners across the nation.
The American Indian Public Health Resource Center is housed in the NDSU Department of Public Health within the College of Health Professions.
The Center focuses on addressing American Indian public health disparities through technical assistance, policy development, self-determination feasibility analysis, education, research, and programming in partnership with tribes in North Dakota, the Northern Plains and the nation.
Its representatives work to engage and partner with tribes to improve the delivery of culturally appropriate public health services and functions in American Indian communities.
American Indians in North Dakota average age at death is 54.7 years, while it is 75.7 years in the white population in the state, according to a Chronic Disease Assessment Report for North Dakota from the Center for Rural Health in 2014. In addition, the population often may face barriers to accessing health care services.
Membership in the national organization will help the NDSU American Indian Public Health Research Center advance its mission. NNPHI convenes its members and partners at the local, state and national level, which gives NDSU’s Center access to a vast national network.
The American Indian Public Health Resource Center at NDSU is the first developmental/provisional member of the NNPHI in the Great Plains Region and its first member that serves primarily American Indian communities.
NDSU’s Center will be able to access NNPHI services including: technical assistance and training; research and program evaluation; stakeholder convening, facilitation, and management; organizational capacity building; program development and incubation, and fiscal intermediary services.
It will help the American Indian Public Health Resource Center to meet its goal of improving health systems, access to services, and health outcomes in rural communities.
The mission of the National Network of Public Health Institutes is to support national public health system initiatives and strengthen public health institutes to promote multi-sector activities resulting in measurable improvements of public health structures, systems, and outcomes, as listed on the organization’s website at https://nnphi.org/.