People sit in the Indian Health Services waiting room on Standing Rock Reservation in Fort Yates. N.D. Statistics for health and disease in Indian country are staggering: American Indians have an infant death rate that is 40 percent higher than the rate for whites, are twice as likely to die from diabetes, are 60 percent more likely to have a stroke, 30 percent more likely to have high blood pressure, and 20 percent more likely to have heart disease.