Work History interviews began in late July, and at this time the program has identified over 900 workers for the program. The Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies will evaluate the work history exposures and health status data. The U. S. State Department will use the opportunity to showcase its achievements during its two-year tenure as the Arctic Council host nation. There is wide-spread dissatisfaction with the U.S.'s poor handling of volatile arctic issues in the past, and the people living in Arctic communities have repeatedly stated their awareness of significant changes in their ecosystems. However, the U.S. has not supported adequate assessment of impacts to the biodiversity in arctic and sub-arctic regions.
Scientists agree that there is a significant data gap about the Arctic environment.
There is a need to know and understand the consequences of climate change and the combined effects of various contaminants. The Alaska Center for Rural Health has received a small grant from the Alaska Telehealth Advisory Council to develop a proposal to the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation and other funding sources, for funds to evaluate the effectiveness of three tele-psychiatry projects. The three projects will assess band-width requirements for various kinds of psychiatric consultations in Ketchikan's Gateway Mental Health Center, Eastern Aleutian Tribes, and for Maniilaq Association in Kotzebue. UW was one of 8 funded sites in the nation. The UAA has had a partnership with the University of Hawaii to provide an MPH program to train Alaska Natives, which ended with the recent demise of UH's MPH program.