Melissa Wyaco supervises about two dozen public health nurses who search for patients across the Navajo Nation who have tested positive for or have been exposed to syphilis.Melissa Wyaco supervises about two dozen public health nurses who search for patients across the Navajo Nation who have tested positive for or have been exposed to syphilis.
"This is a disease we thought we were going to eradicate not that long ago, because we have a treatment that works really well," said Meghan Curry O'Connell, a member of the Cherokee Nation and chief public health officer at the Great Plains Tribal Leaders' Health Board, who is based in South Dakota.per 100,000 people in 2022) is now comparable to the rate for the entire U.S.
"The Navajo Nation is a maternal health desert," said Amanda Singer, a Diné doula and lactation counselor in Arizona who is also executive director of the Navajo Breastfeeding Coalition/Diné Doula Collective. On some parts of the reservation, patients have to drive more than 100 miles to reach obstetric services."There's a really high number of pregnant women who don't get prenatal care throughout the whole pregnancy.
In the Navajo Nation and surrounding area, Iralu said, IHS infectious disease doctors meet with tribal officials every month, and he recommends that all IHS service areas have regular meetings of state, tribal, and IHS providers and public health nurses to ensure every pregnant person in those areas has been tested and treated.