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INDIAN COUNTRY COMMUNITY ASSET DIRECTORY

FOOD, AGRICULTURE, AND HEALTH EQUITY INNOVATIONS

american indian cancer-foundation logo

American Indian Cancer Foundation

The American Indian Cancer Foundation (AICAF), established in 2010, seeks to address cancer inequities faced by American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities through community centered research and collaboration with tribes to develop their own assessments and health policies.

Quick Stats

  • 19 Tribal Partners and 11 Community Partners.
  • Partnered with 13 Tribal and urban coalitions to advance healthy living efforts, which led 2
  • Tribal Nations to adopt new health policies between 2016 and 2017.
  • Raised over $98,000 in the 2017 AICAF Powwow for Hope to eliminate cancer burdens for AI/AN communities.

Cancer Health Inequities in Indian Country

Cancer is the number one cause of fatality for Native women and the number two for Native men.  Factors like colonization, geographic isolation, and removal from traditions and cultures may play a role in these rates. Incorporating Indigenous frameworks and receiving appropriate medical training is integral to understanding prevention health issues in these communities.

AICAF is led by a dynamic group of young professionals, the majority of which are Native with strong ties to their home communities. Through this approach, AICAF employs new strategies focusing on health outcomes and frameworks that are community led, using Indigenous frameworks. Native youth play an integral role in shaping how these innovative strategies serve their communities.  Recognizing this, AICAF has been able to employ new strategies to focus on systems and cultural change, both within and external to Native communities for the sake of driving Native centric health and healing in Native communities. AICAF looks to the younger generation who have an innovative sense of hope and creative solutions to discover and develop those strategies.

You need to have Native people on staff, and more than just one. You need Native People with experience with organizing and community-based work. You need to be willing to go out in the field and listen and learn from mistakes.

Leading Through Community

AICAF believes that solutions should start within a community and that organizations doing community-based work will benefit from staff with ties to theareas they serve. AICAF’s website offers helpful publications and resources for Tribal considerations on Native health.

For information, please contact the American Indian Cancer Foundation.

Bibliography

Persall, Joy. Interview by Sarah Ballew, Headwater People. 11 June 2019.

The American Indian Cancer Foundation Family of Sites. American Indian Cancer Foundation. https://www.americanindiancancer.org/.

 

 

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