1955: The BIA joins campaign against tuberculosis
The U.S. Public Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the government of Alaska undertake a massive campaign against tuberculosis. Alaska Natives have one of the highest incidences of TB ever. In the 1920s, there were only a handful of hospitals in Alaska, although the TB mortality rate was more than 600 deaths per 100,000 people. By 1955, more than 1,000 beds are available for tuberculosis patients, helping the U.S. gain ground against this infectious disease.
In 1955, the mortality rate from TB in Kotzebue, Alaska, a primarily Alaska Native community in the northwest part of the state, is three times more likely to be from tuberculosis than from any other cause of death.
- Theme
- Federal-Tribal Relations
- Region
- Arctic, Northwest Coast, Subarctic
An Alaskan field nurse and patient review a manual titled “Home Care of Tuberculosis: A Guide for the Family,” ca. 1940s–1960s
Courtesy Alaska State Library, Alaska Department of Health & Social Services Photograph Collection
A Native Alaskan woman and two girls talk with a nurse aboard the M/S Hygiene about tuberculosis, Alaska, ca. 1940–1960
Courtesy Alaska State Library, Alaska Department of Health & Social Services Photograph Collection
Albuquerque, New Mexico Indian Sanitorium
Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration
X-ray of lungs with tuberculosis, from brochure for Alaska Natives about home care of tuberculosis, 1950s
Courtesy Indian Health Service/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Page from brochure for Alaska Natives about home care of tuberculosis, 1950s
Courtesy Indian Health Service