By Alison Adduono, Director of Marketing Communications

Earlier this year, Anavasi Diagnostics was pleased to exhibit at the 13th Annual Native American Healthcare Conference, held by Native Nation, in Temecula, CA. Our Chief Medical Officer, Michael Blaivas, MD, MBA, FACEP, FAIUM, was a featured speaker on a panel discussing “Moving Forward From the COVID-19 Global Pandemic.” We received great feedback on Mike’s presentation. During my research for this topic, I was astonished by some of the COVID-19 statistics associated with Indigenous communities.

Access to high-quality healthcare can be challenging. The COVID-19 pandemic really shone a light on the health inequities within indigenous communities due to under-funded and under-resourced health systems with limited services, supplies, staffing, and infrastructure.

COVID‐19 was the leading cause of death among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) in 2020. There are several contributing factors to the increased morbidity rate within the indigenous people including remote locations with limited access to healthcare services and resources, lack of frontline workers, multigenerational housing that could increase transmission, and lack of adequate testing. The high occurrence of severe illness (i.e., diabetes, obesity, etc.) in this demographic also contributes to the higher rates of COVID deaths. The risk of COVID-19 mortality appears to increase with reservation life. In fact, non-Hispanic American Indians or Alaska Natives have higher cases of Covid incidents (Cases 1.6x; Hospitalizations 2.5x; Deaths 2.0x).

According to an article by Johns Hopkins University, the editors of Indian Country Today recognized there was a gap in data reporting and started to track it during the course of the pandemic. This undertaking displayed COVID-19’s disparate impact in areas mainstream media typically didn’t cover. Since the Public Health Emergency ended earlier this year, the nationwide reporting requirement went away. However, it is imperative tribal communities continue to self-monitor case counts and manage patient data given the impact COVID-19 has on this group. This data will help to leverage their access to funding through IHS for COVID-19 resources such as staffing, medical devices, medicines, etc. Early in the pandemic, Anavasi Diagnostics realized providing a solution enabling healthcare providers to quickly and easily manage and report COVID-19 test results would be crucial to help monitor community health. As a result, in keeping with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) guidelines, we created a secure data portal, available at no charge with the AscencioDx® COVID-19 Test and Molecular Detector enabling all to seamlessly manage patient records and report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 has earmarked $7 billion in funding for Indian Health Services (IHS). Funding will provide these historically underserved communities with funds necessary for growing a healthcare workforce, access to medical care, treatment, and supplies including diagnostic tests. In addition, this funding will enable tribal communities (that perhaps experience barriers to care due to long travel distances) to purchase more Point-of-Care molecular tests to quickly diagnose and treat infectious diseases in smaller clinic settings where they may not have immediate access to laboratories.

Given the nature and higher-risk COVID-19 factors associated with tribal living, having access to affordable and timely testing is critical to mitigate the potential spread of SARS-CoV-2 within a community. Providers can elect to use nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) such as PCR, LAMP, NEAR or antigen tests. While antigen tests serve a purpose, NAATs are able to detect positives sooner with their ability to identify the COVID-19 virus in patient samples with lower viral loads. COVID-19 is constantly evolving and affecting severity of infection and contagiousness. Continued testing using accurate, affordable rapid Point of Care NAAT molecular diagnostic tests that remain agile with evolving variants is the best testing option whereas antigen tests may not be so versatile/responsive to new variants and may lose their ability to detect COVID.

The AscencioDx, manufactured in the USA, is an NAAT providing positive test results in as little as 20 minutes. Accurate, affordable, and portable, this platform is ideally suited for remote communities. To learn more about this test, please contact us at sales@anavasidx.com.

Resources:

• The Challenge of COVID-19 and American Indian Health | Commonwealth Fund

• COVID-19 Risk Factors and Mortality among Native Americans | medRxiv

• Risk for COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Death by Race/Ethnicity | CDC Archive

• Exploring Health Disparities in Native American Communities (expresshealthcaremgmt.com)

• New data shows COVID-19's disproportionate impact on American Indian, Alaska Native tribes | Hub (jhu.edu)

• Native American Deaths from COVID-19 Highest Among Racial Groups | Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

• FY23 Summary of Appropriations Provisions.pdf (house.gov)

• Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (NAATs) | CDC

Where Speed, Efficiency, & Accuracy Align

The AscencioDx® Covid-19 Test and The AscencioDx® Molecular Detector have not been FDA cleared or approved, but have been authorized for emergency use by FDA under an EUA for use by authorized laboratories. This product has been authorized only for the detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2, not for any other viruses or pathogens. The emergency use of this product is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of in vitro diagnostics for detection and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 under Section 564(b)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb-3(b)(1), unless the declaration is terminated or authorization is revoked sooner.