Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
AASTEC Tribal Epidemiology Centers Public Health Infrastructure (TECPHI) Program - Chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke and their underlying risk factors exact a heightened toll on the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) population in the form of disproportionate morbidity/mortality, exorbitant medical costs, premature death, loss of productivity, and diminished quality of life. Similarly, infectious disease such as the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on AI/AN populations, which is exacerbated by these underlying chronic conditions and social determinants of health. At the same time, tribal public health capacity and infrastructure is significantly under-resourced and under-developed. This 5-year, Component A project will mobilize a multidisciplinary partnership of the Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center (AASTEC), its parent organization the Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board, Inc. (AAIHB), and the 27 Indian Health Service (IHS) Albuquerque Area Tribes to deliver essential public health services and support efforts to effectively identify and address underlying social determinants of health, reduce persistent health disparities, and improve the overall health and wellbeing of AI/AN populations. AASTEC will strengthen its capacity and provide leadership, technical assistance, training and resources to all 27 Albuquerque Area Tribes to achieve a long-term outcome of a strengthened delivery of essential public health services by our tribal epidemiology center and the tribes throughout our service area. Specific activities that will be employed to achieve these outcomes, at a minimum, will include: 1) support TEC workforce development and capacity building by providing on-going training and technical assistance in essential public health services and core public health competencies; 2) collect, assess, and monitor data on health status of AI/AN populations; 3) support planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of culturally relevant practiced-based activities to address identified health priorities; 4) participate in the Community of Practice (CoP) via virtual meetings and trainings to convene all TECs to share ideas, successes, and challenges, exchange lessons learned, and establish best practices; 5) create a sustainability plan to sustain increased workforce capacity and enhanced public health infrastructure beyond the 5-year period of performance; 6) provide resources, training, and technical assistance to tribes and UIOs to support the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the tribal/community health improvement plan; 7) develop new and/or modify existing public health surveillance tools to support the collection and use of tribally-relevant public health data, and 8) evaluate public health infrastructure and health data access and capacity within Albuquerque Area Tribes. A comprehensive, mixed-methods evaluation, encompassing both process and outcomes performance measures, will also be implemented throughout all five years of this project.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).