This program offers information on the structure of systems within the Indian Health Service and how the complex interaction with Tribal Governments has created a new prototype for health delivery.

Funding gaps continues to be a major source of contention for Tribes. This resource explores why health disparities exist in the American Indian population and examines strategies that have worked and can work to decrease these disparities.

The Tribes and tribal communities must tackle this enormous challenge and work to resolve this through participatory action. This means the entire village must become involved, take action and work to change the great health disparities faced by their communities.

This program was originally broadcast on June 22, 2005, as a part of the 11th Annual Summer Public Health Research Institute and Videoconference on Minority Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, Minority Health Project, with the presentation by Carole Anne Heart.

UNC-Chapel Hill's annual Summer Public Health Research Institute and Videoconference is a unique forum that enables experts in the area of health disparities to reach an audience of several hundred researchers, educators, administrators, practitioners, and students throughout the U.S. Initiated in 1995, its aims include the identification and reduction of barriers to conducting health research in minority communities. Read more on the UNC website.