July 2003

Navajo Nation Steps Up AIDS Education

Navajo Nation health officials have instituted new education and prevention measures to combat HIV/AIDS and recent outbreaks of syphilis on a reservation in New Mexico. The Associated Press described the program as “gingerly treading the line between traditional tribal values and the realities of disease prevention.” The tribe established its own AIDS office in the late 1980s and the office was active in public health education and prevention on the reservation during the 1990s, but funding for the program ran out several years ago.

The Navajo Nation program faces cultural obstacles, including taboos against openly discussing sex and homosexuality, but in March the nation’s Division of Health ran a full-page ad in the Navajo Times that featured Navajo President Joe Shirley with a message promoting safe sex, STC education, and testing. Health division head Cora Phillips said that Shirley’s participation was important symbolically. Phillips has assembled a task force to oversee prevention and treatment efforts and is bringing together traditional members of the tribe to address the language barrier; there are no words in the Navajo language that correspond to some STDs. Education and prevention efforts include distributing safe sex pamphlets and free condoms.