1997: Diabetes called greatest threat to American Indians since TB

Congress creates the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, due to the disease’s emergence as one of the greatest threats to Indian health since the tuberculosis epidemic of the 1950s. The program, based in the Indian Health Service, funds research on the prevention and cure of type 1 diabetes among American Indians.

The Special Diabetes Program for Indians is part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33). Gale Marshall, chairman of the American Diabetes Association's Awakening the Spirit Native American Initiative, states: “Although the statistics are daunting, these much-needed programs have translated the science of diabetes into real-world settings by providing improved care for our patients and prevention efforts that are turning the hope of a diabetes-free future into a reality.”

Theme

Epidemics, Federal-Tribal Relations

Region

Arctic, California, Great Basin, Great Plains, Hawai‘i, Northeast, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Southeast, Southwest, Subarctic