On March 24 each year we recognize World TB Day, the day when Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacillus that causes tuberculosis (TB). We commemorate World TB day to raise the public awareness about the devastating health, social, and economic consequences of TB and increase efforts to end the global TB epidemic.

The impact of TB has been devastating to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, TB outbreaks were common and lead to widespread illness and death. TB response efforts often included the ineffective, traumatic, forced removal of Alaska native people from their homes and communities resulting in losses in cultural identity and historical trauma that still affect us today. We often see this manifested in various forms including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.

The rates of TB in the YK Delta continue to be staggering. According to numbers released by the CDC yesterday, March 23, 2023, in 2022, 1 in every 150  newly reported TB cases in the United States were from the YK Delta.

This past year, YKHC employees worked tirelessly to increasing our efforts to identify and treat TB infections and disease. In 2022, through interdepartmental effort and partnerships with communities and schools YKHC performed over 5,200 TB skin tests and 3,500 whole-blood tests. This is 89% skin tests and 27% blood tests than any previous year. We also began providing latent TB care management, and expanded our efforts to support individuals at increased risk for TB disease.

There is still much work to be done, and we continue to use our Napartet Strategy to guide our efforts to address this important public health issue.  

Healthy Community: YKHC and are partners are working to continue to provide screening programs that identify and treat cases of TB at an early stage will help prevent the spread of TB, and have advocated for new funding to provide access to basic necessities like clean water, sanitation, and adequate nutrition, which are essential for many health outcomes, including preventing the spread of TB.

Healthy People: We have refocused efforts to encourage routine health care visits and participation in TB screening will help identify TB infections. Early treatment and adherence to medication regiment can help prevent the progression of the disease and reduce its spread to others. We continue to promote healthy lifestyles, such as regular exercise and a traditional, balanced diet, will help improve an individual’s overall health which will reduce their risk of developing TB.

Care Delivery: Accurate diagnostics and timely care can help patients with TB disease managing their symptoms, control the progression of disease, and reduce the duration of infectiousness which will help prevent the spread to others. This will also help reduce the development of drug-resistant strains of TB, which are difficult to treat. To this end, we continue to focus on quality, strengthening village health programs, and improving the patient experience.

Corporate Capability and Culture: A strong corporate capability and culture is essential to our mission. We have been developing standard work and improving communication and collaboration between communities, healthcare providers, public health programs, government agencies, and research institutions to support a highly reliable system that improves the quality, accessibility, and timeliness of care. We continue to focus on building care management systems that respond to the current needs in our community; support a local Alaska Native workforce to providing care; and working with our partners to research and development of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tools that will help identify and treat TB.

We are more focused than ever to work together to address TB in the YK Delta. In April, YKHC spearheading a strategic planning effort involving are partners from the State of Alaska, the CDC, and the University of Washington Tuberculosis Research and Training Center, to align our efforts to address TB; and we are actively seeking grants to expand our ability to partner with communities impacted by TB to help develop culturally relevant approaches reduce the burden TB.