Leveraging Tribal Strengths in Response to the Syphilis Epidemic in the Great Plains Area

Abstract

The syphilis epidemic in the Great Plains Area and Indian Country has delivered a continued and devastating toll on the American Indians/Alaska Natives Relatives that the Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center serves. Within the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board and Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center “Relative” is used in place of traditional language such as “patient” or “client”. “Relative” will be capitalized in all cases of this usage and distinguished from the familial usage of the word with no capitalization. Additionally, to emphasize Tribal sovereignty, Great Plains Tribal Leaders Board and Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center capitalize all uses and variations of “Tribe”. American Indians/Alaska Natives have been disproportionately impacted by syphilis and continue to see the highest rates amongst any other racial group in the Great Plains Area. A multitude of systemic and structural barriers exist that prohibit state and federal governments from being able to effectively address this crisis in a meaningful way. In response to this public health crisis, a need for Tribally trained Disease Intervention Specialist was established, and the Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center’s Tribal Disease Intervention Training Center was formed. My role as a Disease Intervention Specialist Trainer was to enhance Tribal public health infrastructure capacity through workforce building and Tribal Disease Intervention Specialist trainings. During my Applied Practical Experience, I created a multitude of education and training products for the Tribal Disease Intervention Training Center with two primary pieces: Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center Tribal Disease Intervention Specialist Certification Student Manual Module 2: Sexually Transmitted Infection Basics and a medicine bag health education collection. These two products delivered a culturally tailored reference tool and empowering health education pieces to enhance a Tribal Disease Intervention Specialist’s ability to conduct case investigations and provide health education. Interweaving clinically grounded resources from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control and the American Public Health Association with indigenous-based knowledge led to materials that provided meaningful training of Tribal and Tribal serving public health professionals and gave them the tools to effectively educate their community members. As the Tribal Disease Intervention Specialist training program becomes more developed, the ever-evolving need for data access becomes increasingly apparent. The Great Plains Area Tribal Nations and Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center continue to work together to advocate for data sovereignty to allow for the best delivery of Tribal Disease Intervention Specialist and other Tribal public health services. The two products provide infrastructure for the continued development of the Tribal Disease Intervention Specialist training program and, in turn, allow for increased advocacy for data and Tribal sovereignty. Tribal Nations and Tribal Epidemiology Centers having access to their data as public health authorities is a vital component to continued successful infectious and chronic disease prevention that the Tribal Disease Intervention Training Center seeks to provide.