Proceedings of the Alaska-Russia Native Peoples Health and Social Issues Conference. May 1992, Alaska.

An Alaska-Russia Native People's Health and Social Issues Conference, sponsored by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, the Alaska Native Foundation, the University of Anchorage Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies, the International Scientific Center "ARTIKA" (Magadan, Russia), the Associations of Native People of Chukotka and Kolyma, and the Magadan Native Association, was held in Wasilla, Alaska in May, 1992. The conference brought together Native people, primarily health and social services workers, to discuss differences and similarities in issues and approaches, and to lay the foundation for future collaboration. The primary participants came mostly from rural villages and small regional cities, and represented Native Health Corporations, Native Associations, and villages. Additional participants came from the University of Alaska, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, the Indian Health Service, the Magadan Health Department, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, and the International Union for Circumpolar Health. A Total of 39 people participated, including: eight Russian Natives (Chukchi, Even, and Siberian Yup'ik); three non-Native Russians; 18 Alaska Natives (Aleut, Athabaskan, Inupiat, Siberian Yup'ik, Yup'ik); nine non-Native Alaskans; one Canadian. The issues discussed in individual and panel presentations, and in small groups, included history, demography, settlement patterns, the cash and subsistence economies, mental and physical health (epidemiology, etiology, treatment and prevention), education, governance, culture and language. As the conference participants came to know each other better, the discussions became increasingly open, and, particularly around shared feelings of cultural oppression and loss, emotional.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)