2000: Fewer American Indian babies die with clean drinking water
The risk of death to American Indian babies from gastroenteritis declines by 80 percent in 25 years because of increased access to clean drinking water and sanitary sewer facilities on reservations. Doctors for the Indian Health Service tell Congress that the Indian Sanitation Facilities Act of 1959 has had a greater positive effect upon Indian health than any other single piece of legislation.
In 2000, 7.5 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native homes still lack safe water, compared with 1 percent of all U.S. homes.
- Theme
- Federal-Tribal Relations
- Region
- Arctic, California, Great Basin, Great Plains, Northeast, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Southeast, Southwest, Subarctic
A worker with the Indian Health Service connects a water line on a Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. Under the Indian Sanitation Facilities Act, the Indian Health Service is required to provide safe water and sewage systems for Native American homes.
Courtesy Indian Health Service/U.S Department of Health and Human Services