Violence against women is the most pervasive human rights abuses. Alaska native women suffer violence at alarmingly high rates. According to research, more than 4 in 5 Indian and Alaska Native women experience violence and 1 in every 2 experience sexual violence. Alaska Native women continue to suffer the highest rate of forcible sexual assaults (Rosay, 2016). They have reported up to 10 times higher power rates than the rest of the United States. Statistics define the scale of the problem but fail to tell the full story and account for the devastating impacts of violence on its survivors.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), sexual violence is a public health issue. Healthcare workers recognize and intervene in sexual violence since victims frequently consult them for years after violating their mental and physical health. Healthcare workers show a desire to prevent sexual violence against native women of Alaska. However, the existing services for victims of sexual violence do not address the native population or villages (Rosay, 2016). Thereby, there is an absence of preventive initiatives put in place to address sexual violence. Internationally, there are existing guidelines regarding the Healthcare sector's role in tertiary prevention of sexual violence. However, these guidelines do not elaborate on how to deal with the sexual violence problem.
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Structural bias refers to the systematic disadvantage of one social group compared to others with whom they coexist. Structural inequality covers policy, law, governance, and culture and relates to race, ethnicity, gender, and other domains. These inequalities provide systematic disadvantages that lead to Healthcare inequality. Racial constructs lead to Healthcare inequality due to discrimination of the native population and people of color. Before a health worker attends to a native woman concerning sexual violence, much ignorance have gone on. In the end, the victims end up not getting any medical attention.
Each community has its own needs. Examining these needs helps uncover what is truly needed and which will lead to future improvement. Assessing the needs leads to a deeper understanding of the community and the conditions to be addressed. Health and human service providers should be involved in the assessment to improve the medical services provided and advocate for the equipment and medical services provided as they interact with the marginalized population and better understand their needs.
Creating cultural awareness among communities and Healthcare workers goes a long way in improving the Healthcare provided to violence victims. Creating awareness educates the city on the different problems encountered by members of the same community, thereby increasing activism (Hartman, 2020). The community members will advocate for better Healthcare policies about insurance matters, treatment of native citizens, and equal medical care for all community members.
In conclusion, every community faces a threat to public health and safety. Non-governmental organizations have put together public health programs designed to address health concerns and crises. There are many public health programs, but the most common include; research and investigations, public health education, community, professional training, etc. The following steps should be taken to know whether the programs are working; engaging stakeholders, describing the plan, focusing on the evaluation, gathering evidence, engaging in fact-finding, justifying conclusions, and applying the lessons learned.
References
Hartman, J. L. (2020). Seeking justice: how VAWA reduced the stronghold over American Indian and Alaska Native women. Violence against women, 1077801220949695.
Rosay, A. B. (2016). Documentation for Analysis of Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men-2010 Findings From the National Intimate Partner And Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) by the National Institute of Justice.
Rosay, A. B. (2016). Violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women and men: 2010 findings from the National intimate partner and sexual violence survey.
