About

Indigenous Peoples currently include 370 million people in 70 countries throughout the world.1,2 Globally, Indigenous Peoples have a lifespan that is, on average, almost a decade less than their non-Indigenous counterparts, demonstrating the social injustice that continues to exist in our time.3  In fact, Indigenous Peoples, including Native Hawaiians, the Indigenous Peoples of Hawai‘i, continue to experience significant health and behavioral disparities, many of which stem from socio-cultural determinants of health including colonization, historical trauma, and changes in lifestyle that resulted from assimilative policies.3-7 Despite these health inequities and increased risk of experiencing health adversities, Native Hawaiians remain resilient.8

 

In response to the health disparities experienced by Native Hawaiians and Indigenous Peoples from social and cultural determinants of health, the Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Health (NHIH) Master of Public Health Program (MPH) Program was developed at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa with the goal of eliminating health disparities through collaborative cross-cutting research and training with, for, and by Indigenous communities.9 The NHIH Program aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills that are necessary to develop, analyze, and advocate for health services and policies to improve the health and wellbeing of Ingenious Peoples by incorporating  Native Hawaiian and Indigenous frameworks of health, epistemologies, pedagogies, and values. Furthermore, program activities help to shed light on the kuleana (loosely translated as a deep responsibility) of faculty and haumāna (students) of the program, while emphasizing the importance of using culturally grounded and community-engaged approaches to serve the health needs of Indigenous Peoples, including Native Hawaiians.


About the Summer Health Academy: 

  • Community Collaboration

Developed to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education IN PARTNERSHIP with Native Hawaiian and Indigenous communities.

  • Indigenized Grounding

The framework of this program is grounded in Native Hawaiian and Indigenous ways of knowing and understandings of health.

  • Indigenous Voices

Honors the voices of Indigenous students, faculty, and community partners through guest lectures, research opportunities, and field experience.




Summer Health Academy Goals:  

Foster relationships

Decrease educational disparities

Create a pathway 

Prepare the workforce to serve Indigenous health



Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Health Summer Health Academy Components

Individualized Mentoring

Students completed Individual Development Plans. 

Experiential Opportunities

Opportunities to learn about social determinants of health and develop research skills and knowledge through community-based research projects.

Exploration of positionality and kuleana

Besides that there are various kinds of interesting features of our application

Social networking

Networking to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in public health and the health sciences.