Centering Data Sovereignty, Tribal Values, and Practices for Equity in American Indian and Alaska Native Public Health Systems
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This article commentary discusses how Tribal data sovereignty can serve as a vital part of improving public health equity as well as the challenges alongside it. It also considers the long-standing data collection practices, sovereignty, and public health of American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
It discusses how these long-standing practices, uplifting Tribal data sovereignty, and the values of American Indian and Alaska Native communities play a role in not only Tribal public health systems, but in local, state, and federal public health as well.
“Tribal data sovereignty is the right to ownership and governance of the collection and use of Tribal data. Tribal data sovereignty and Tribal data governance are powerful tools to improve the accuracy and relevance of data that represent Tribal circumstances, customs, and worldviews.”
Recommendations from this article commentary:
Build relationships and effective communication among all partners.
Establish ongoing Tribal formal data-sharing agreements.
Recognize Tribal sovereignty and Tribal data systems and data practices as valid and central to Tribal data sovereignty.
Identify public health data that are relevant to community well-being and community needs.
Define key demographic variables such as race, ethnicity, Tribal affiliation/enrollment, residency, and gender identity.
Determine appropriate categories for data aggregation in partnership with American Indian and Alaska Native partners.
Invest in linkage projects that cross-reference American Indian and Alaska Native data with Tribal registries to prevent racial and ethnic misclassification.
Invest in public health infrastructure, such as broadband internet access, data capacity, and workforce, and interoperable data solutions.