title: Public health legal preparedness in Indian country.
abstract: American Indian/Alaska Native tribal governments are sovereign entities with inherent authority to create laws and enact health regulations. Laws are an essential tool for ensuring effective public health responses to emerging threats. To analyze how tribal laws support public health practice in tribal communities, we reviewed tribal legal documentation available through online databases and talked with subject-matter experts in tribal public health law. Of the 70 tribal codes we found, 14 (20%) had no clearly identifiable public health provisions. The public health-related statutes within the remaining codes were rarely well integrated or comprehensive. Our findings provide an evidence base to help tribal leaders strengthen public health legal foundations in tribal communities.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Albuquerque, NM, USA. rrb2@cdc.gov
authors.forename: Ralph T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Bryan
authors.forename: Rebecca McLaughlin
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Schaefer
authors.forename: Lemyra
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: DeBruyn
authors.forename: Daniel D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Stier
mesh_terms: D000413:Alaska; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004782:Environmental Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D004930:Inuit / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D015980:Public Health Practice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States; D016549:United States Indian Health Service