Violent Death in Alaska

Why is violent death due to accidents, suicides, homicides, and alcohol steadily increasing in the forty-ninth state? What aspects of behavior put an Alaskan in a greater risk category for violent death than a person living in another state?

Under the auspices of the Washington-Alaska-Montana-Idaho (WAMI) Program for medical education at the University of Alaska, Dr. Robert F. Kraus performs research dealing with these and other questions concerning preventable or violent deaths.

By studying the changing patterns of mortality in the various cultures of Alaska for the period 1950-1974 it has been found that in the non-Native population there has been a slight increase in the percent of deaths due to chronic illness and violence. However, for the Native population there has been a striking change in the mortality pattern. Infectious disease, the main killer in the early 1950's (nearly 70% of all deaths), now accounts for only slightly more than 20% of all Native deaths. During the early 1950's, violent deaths among Natives were less than 20% of all deaths. But now, violence is the principal cause of death for Natives and constitutes over 40% of their total mortality.

This startling change in mortality is one indicator of the social and cultural changes wrought on the Native population in the past 25 years. Somehow the knowledge of these changes must be better utilized to increase the effectiveness of our cross-cultural programs in health and education.