Beyond Integration: Indigenous Health Sovereignty and Traditional Medicine Policy in the United States
Leslie Korn, PhD, MPH, LMHC, Hailey Allen, Charlotte Berg
Volume 26, Number 1 (2026) 26 (1): 198-209
Keywords Indigenous traditional medicine, Tribal sovereignty, health policy, land-based healing, Indigenous epistemologies, public health, United States
Abstract
This policy paper examines Indigenous peoples’ traditional medicine in the United States as a comprehensive, land-based system of health grounded in intergenerational knowledge, ecological relationships, and community governance. It analyzes tensions between Indigenous health self-determination and state-led health policy, with particular attention to federal frameworks and the evolving approach of the World Health Organization (WHO) toward traditional medicine—from the community-based recognition reflected in the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata to more recent approaches emphasizing integration through regulation, biomedical validation, and standardization. The paper argues that these frameworks often marginalize Indigenous epistemologies by removing healing
practices from their cultural, spiritual, and ecological contexts while privileging external evidence systems and governance structures. Drawing on examples from Tribal Nations and urban Indigenous communities, including Indigenous-governed health systems and community-based interventions, the paper highlights documented contributions to physical health, behavioral health, and community well-being. It also identifies structural barriers, including funding inequities, restrictive reimbursement policies, and the exclusion of traditional healers from formal systems. Situating these dynamics within ongoing colonial policy structures, the paper advances policy recommendations that prioritize Indigenous health self-determination, Tribal sovereignty, epistemological pluralism, and support for autonomous land-based systems of care.
Leslie Korn, PhD, MPH, LMHC
Hailey Allen
Charlotte Berg
Published June 5, 2026
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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