The Center for Sami Health Research (CSHR) was established in 2001 due to a grave lack of health information about the indigenous population in Norway, the Sami people. One main challenge in the Nordic countries is the lack of ethnic identifiers in national data systems due to legislative prohibitions against the collection of data on ethnicity. Information about health and living condition for the Sami group was sparse and caused unreliable information about inequalities in health and social conditions in the multiethnic population habiting the arctic areas in Norway. The only possibility to get reliable health information on individual level for the Sami people, was and still is, to perform large research surveys designed for this purpose. The CSHR has been responsible for several large epidemiological health surveys performed in the Sami and multiethnic communities in the Arctic North.
This proposed anniversary celebration visualizes and clarify the broad aspect of research done by the Center for Sami Health Research (CSHR) the last 20 years. This celebration is done in great respect to all the participants that have made the research possible, by attending our different research projects.
By arranging the conference in a Sami core area, we hope to achieve a broad visibility of research findings, in the Sami communities and in the multi-ethnic municipalities the Arctic North.