Toni Clark
The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) is the largest, most comprehensive Tribal health organization in the country. As part of ANTHC’s Community Health Services Division, the Alaska Native Epidemiology Center (ANEC) monitors and reports on health data, provides technical assistance, and supports initiatives that promote the health and wellness of Alaska Native People. Syndromic surveillance (SyS) provides public health officials with a timely system for detecting, understanding, and monitoring health threats. The ANEC Syndromic Surveillance Program (SyS) monitors and reports on emergency department and clinic data from Alaskan Tribal Health Organizations (THOs) that participate in the statewide syndromic surveillance program. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the ANEC SyS Program has significantly expanded, onboarding almost all Tribally managed emergency departments and several village clinics. SyS data can provide valuable insights to Tribes and Tribal Organizations, but barriers in accessing SyS data occur at local and state levels. This presentation will highlight how the ANEC and the State of Alaska have partnered in ways that align with Tribal data sovereignty efforts, while working within current systems, and how both partners continue to advocate for approaches that better acknowledge public health authority held by Tribes and certain Tribal Organizations.