Preventing Diabetes Among Native Americans: A Community Health Intervention Program

Running head: COMMUNITY HEALTH 1
Community Health
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations

COMMUNITY HEALTH 2
Community Health
Many ethnic or minority groups suffer from different health issues. As a community
health director of a local health department, I found it essential to create an intervention program
which would aid in preventing one of the critical health issues impacting the minority groups.
Diabetes is a significant health issue affecting the Native Americans. It is a community health
issue because it leads to disability, poor health, loss of life, and negative impacts on the
economy. The Native Americans are among the minority ethnic groups engulfed with diabetes
due to poor health which manifests itself as a result of unemployment and poverty (James, 2015).
It is important to note that poverty and unemployment lead to deterioration of health due to lack
of nutritious or balanced diet, access to primary care, stress, and physical inactivity. Research
conducted by the American Diabetes Association show that the Natives American especially the
Alaska Natives have the greatest rate of diabetes in comparison to any other group in America
(Pettitt et al., 2014). The American Diabetes Association states that this is as a result of limited
access to healthy foods and poverty. The Natives Americans have been consuming cheap fatty
foods after they lost a more substantial proportion of their land.
I believe Lifestyle intervention program is most appropriate for overcoming diabetes
among the Native Americans. The intervention program would target physical activity, diet, and
smoking as well as alcohol cessation (Aminov et al., 2016). Behavioral intervention would as
well form a unique part of the program. Cultural sensitivity of lifestyles would enhance as well
as promote the effectiveness and appropriateness of the intervention program. The intervention
would address the language and cultural characteristics of the Natives Americans by engaging
the members in their local languages through experts and educating and counseling them on the
benefits of balanced diets, physical activity, cessation of alcohol and smoking, and eversion of