Underdevelopment, demographic change, and health care on the Navajo Indian reservation

Abstract

Employing an historical approach, the Navajo Indian Reservation is understood as an under-developed nation. The consequences are examined in terms of demographic response, organization and utilization of health services, and employment patterns within the service sector generally and in health care specifically. In some respects, the health and other services come to serve as a misplaced target for the Indians' anger and frustration which might be better directed toward more fundamental concerns such as control of natural resource extraction, control of local business and industry, etc. The focus on health may also teach people that their problems are personal, which they are not.