UAF has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health for $3.26 million for a research project to address coronary heart disease among Yup'ik Alaska Native people in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has received a grant from the National Institutes of health for $3.26 million for a research project to address coronary heart disease among Yup'ik Alaska Native people in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region. The project focuses on blending an elder-designed program based on ancestral principles with workshops on traditional foodways-a break from conventional hearth health interventions.
The tribally driven project, "Neqpiaput Iinruugut (Our Food is Medicine)," was developed in response to calls from Yup'ik elders and community leaders for a health program that connects Yup'ik people to their own cultural strengths.
"Many well-intentioned mainstream heart health programs haven't achieved the desired results in Native communities because they focus mainly on changing individual eating habits without addressing the deeper root causes of heart disease," said principal investigator Andrea Bersamin, professor of nutrition at UAF's Center for Alaska Native health Research.
"Such a narrow approach can be harmful, because it reinforces stereotypes that suggest poor health is solely the individual's fault," she said.
