Health and Wellness for Indigenous Peoples

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will address health and wellness for Indigenous peoples in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, a peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles and communications in the interdisciplinary area of environmental health sciences and public health. For detailed information on the journal, we refer you to https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph. 

This Special Issue intends to showcase current research from around the world that aims to understand and improve the health and wellness of Indigenous peoples. There are over 370 million Indigenous peoples worldwide, comprised of over 5000 distinct cultures, celebrating rich and diverse cultural identities, unique knowledge systems, and enduring connections to lands and seas (The World Bank, 2019; United Nations, 2009). However, many Indigenous populations share continued health and social disadvantages compared to non-Indigenous people—a legacy of their common history of colonisation, subjugation and disempowerment (Anderson et al., 2016; United Nations Development Programme, 2016).

Improving the health and wellness of Indigenous peoples is critical for reducing existing health inequities. As understandings of health and wellbeing are subject to cultural influences, it is critical to understand how these concepts are understood and experienced by Indigenous populations and cultural groups to enable the co-creation of appropriate and effective solutions to existing inequalities.

Ensuring that Indigenous people are leaders and partners in determining these solutions is a key requirement for self-determination, as well as to ameliorate the long history of unethical research practices experienced by Indigenous peoples. To honour Indigenous knowledge and recognise the cultural strength and lived experiences of Indigenous peoples, we welcome submissions developed or co-developed by and with Indigenous peoples. All papers submitted for consideration should include a paragraph in the Methods section briefly detailing: (a) the nature of the engagement, and the involvement and leadership of Indigenous people and communities within the project; (b) ethics and governance considerations in relation to Indigenous peoples; and (c) whose priorities are reflected in the work (Griffiths et al., 2022).

This Special Issue is open to any subject area related to health and wellness for Indigenous Peoples. The listed keywords suggest just a few of the many possibilities.

References:

• The World Bank. (2019). Indigenous Peoples.
• United Nations. (2009). State of the World's Indigenous Peoples. New York: United Nations Publications.
• Anderson, I., Robson, B., Connolly, M., Al-Yaman, F., Bjertness, E., King, A. et al. (2016). Indigenous and tribal peoples' health (The Lancet–Lowitja Institute Global Collaboration): a population study. The Lancet, 388, 131-157.
• Griffiths K, Diaz A, Whop LJ, Cunningham J. (2022) The Health and Wellbeing of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples around the Globe: Ensuring and Promoting Best Practice in Research. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, 261.

Prof. Dr. Gail Garvey
Dr. Michelle Dickson
Dr. Darren Garvey
Dr. Kate Anderson
Prof. Dr. Kirsten Howard
Dr. Alana Gall
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.