 On January 9, Dr. Umair Shah, former DOH Secretary of Health, Tulalip Chairwoman Teri Gobin, and Tulalip Board of Directors celebrate the formalization of the data sharing agreement at the Tulalip Administration building.
Data governance is critical for Tribal Public Health
DOH collects many types of public health data from sources such as laboratories that test for diseases, healthcare records, birth records, health surveys, environmental data, and more. Collecting this data and delivering accurate information is critical to protecting people’s health. Tribes and local health jurisdictions use this data to alert their local communities to a variety of emerging health threats. This data sharing agreement provides the Tribe with more direct governance.
Tulalip Tribe will gain access to several DOH data systems over time, prioritized according to the Tribe’s needs. The first being the Washington Disease Reporting System, where providers and labs report diseases and notifiable conditions such as COVID-19, lead levels in children, Mpox, and more. The data sharing agreement is flexible enough to allow for additional access to datasets as the Tribe’s needs evolve.
This data sharing agreement opens new opportunities for Tulalip to lead outbreak investigations affecting Tribal members, better assess the well-being of their community to develop health priorities, and more. To protect Tulalip’s data, the agreement includes details of how Tulalip’s data is being used with the Tribe’s consent.
Looking to the future of Tribal Data Sovereignty in Washington
“For years paternalism towards Indigenous people has locked tribes out of information gathered from us and about us. We appreciate the Data Sovereignty Principles developed through the Governor’s Indian Health Commission and the American Indian Health Commission. Transparency and informed consent are vital to collaboration. Tribes have an inherent right to own data about us and determine how the data is collected, shared, and used. This formal agreement is a wonderful first step towards a respectful relationship that will benefit both public health agencies and the well-being of tribal communities,” Tulalip Chairwoman Teri Gobin said.
Achieving a formal data sharing agreement between Tulalip and DOH is the culmination of hard work, collaboration, and consensus building.
“Tulalip and DOH celebrate this milestone together while recognizing that much work remains. This data sharing agreement represents a further expression of the state’s commitment to its government-to-government relationship with Tribes and reinforces the belief that Tribes must have access and ownership of their public health data to protect their communities,” said Kristin Peterson, DOH chief of policy.
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