Office of management and budget racial categories and implications for American Indians and Alaska natives

This commentary provides a brief overview of American Indian and Alaskan po pulations in the United Stales and selected data issues. The focus of this commentary is an excerpt of recommendations related to Office of Management and Budget Directive 15 (racial categories) and American Indians and Alask a Natives. Of paramount concern is not only that all federal. state, and local agencie s collect data on American Indians and Alaska Natives, but also that report s, findings, and peer-reviewed publications include data an American Indian s and Alaska Natives. It is of no use to recruit American Indians and Alask a Natives into studies and projects if their race/ethnicity-specific data a re not disseminated. Collapsing racial/ethnic categories, such as Asians, Native Hawaiians and P acific Islanders, and American Indians and Alaska Natives, into a single ra cial category of "other" is of no benefit to public health policymakers, re searchers, and tribal planners. Likewise, tribal affiliation should be coll ected whenever it is feasible to do so. Insufficient inclusion and inaccura te identification of American Indians and Alaska Natives in national survey s has also resulted in a dearth of baseline data in significant reports suc h as Healthy People 2010.