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Drawing of a Sioux medicine man attending to a patient
(Denver Public Library, Western History Collection) |
Despite the promises for adequate health care written in U.S. government treaties, Sioux Indians in South Dakota have the poorest health of any minority group in the United States. Diabetes rates are six times that of the general white population. Heart disease is also more frequent. Many factors contribute to the Sioux's poor health: a distrust of standard medical practices, inadequate funding for Indian medical care, few trained physicians on the reservations and limited access due to remote living conditions, poor eating habits and a high-fat diet, and a high rate of alcohol use. The average life expectancy for the Sioux is 48 years, compared to 66 years for other Indian populations and 75 years for the general U.S. population.
Alcohol abuse is rampant among the Sioux, at three times the rate found in the general white population. Social workers on the Pine Ridge Reservation estimate that 60 to 80 percent of babies there are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, the leading cause of learning disabilities. Some indicate the lack of work on the Reservation being the primary cause for alcoholism.
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