US health program cuts hurt Native Americans: report

SACRAMENTO, the United States -- Massive cuts to federal health programs are frustrating tribal leaders across the United States as the move will affect Native American health, local media reported on Tuesday.

Federal funding and workforce reductions were harming the Native Americans of Navajo Nation, a community of 400,000 enrolled members, said tribal president Buu Nygren as reported by KFF Health News. The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the United States that extends across portions of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is planning to cut 20,000 positions, reducing the workforce from 82,000 to 62,000, according to agency announcements. Additionally, the administration of Donald Trump mandated a 35 percent reduction in contract spending across all HHS divisions, the report added.

The sweeping reductions have resulted in cuts to funding directed toward or disproportionately relied on by Native Americans, which are "disrupting real lives" as described by Navajo council delegate Cherilyn Yazzie in the report.

Tribal health officials said slashed federal staffing had made it harder to get technical support and money for federally funded health projects they run, according to the report.

The National Indian Health Board said in a letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month that tribal communities had lost more than 6 million US dollars in grants from HHS agencies.

The cuts may affect community health workers, vaccination programs and data modernization efforts, said Janet Alkire, chairperson of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on the South Dakota and North Dakota border.

"We have not been consulted with meaningfully on any of these actions," said Liz Malerba of the United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund, as tribal leaders argued the cuts violate federal treaty obligations.

Native Americans suffer higher rates of chronic illness and shorter life expectancy than the general population, said the report.