Present health status indicators.

All statistics, unless otherwise stated, have been taken from Trends in Indian Health and Regional Differences in Indian Health, researched and published by the Indian Health Service.

* The current Age Adjusted Breast Cancer Mortality Rate for Native women in the Aberdeen area is 19.3, while the adjusted total for the Native population of all I.H.S. areas is 14.9(5).

* The current Age Adjusted Cervical Cancer Rate for Native women in the Aberdeen area is 11.3, almost five times the U.S. All Races rate of 2.5 (6).

* The current life expectancy rate for All Races throughout the country is 755 years. The countrywide I.H.S. rate is 73.2 years, and the I.H.S. Aberdeen area life expectancy rate for Native Americans is reported to be 64.3 years. (7). In its May-June 1998 issue, however, Harvard Magazine reported, "Men of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux Reservations in Bennett County have the worst life expectancy in the United States-- 56.5 years, lower than any Western Hemisphere nation except Haiti. But other South Dakota counties rank among the top 10 of the 2,077 county units studied" (8). Native American women in this area can expect to live at least 8.4 years less than other Native Americans, 10.1 years less, than everyone else in the nation (9), and 32.3 years less than the longest life expectancy rates in the country (10).

* The Aberdeen Area Median Household Income for Native Americans is $12,310 per year. These statistics are the lowest in the whole country, with the U.S. All Races average at $30,056 per year, over twice that of the Native American community in the Aberdeen area (11). It is evident that low incomes are directly proportional to I.H.S. mortality statistics, as well as health status.

* 49.6% of the Native American population in the Aberdeen area live below the poverty level, almost 4 times the U.S. All Races rate of 13.1% (12).

* Health and prevention education at I.H.S. is apparently at an all time low. According to a current I.H.S. document, I.H.S. Health Educators spend 8% of their time in the school systems, 12% of their time in the clinics and the majority of their time, 57%, in their offices. It is questionable whether effective community-wide health education can occur at this stage (13).