Health

Fewer Alaska babies were born in 2024 than the year prior, continuing a yearslong decline in the state’s births and women’s fertility rates, a new report shows.

There were 8,950 Alaska babies born last year, down from 9,031 in 2023, according to the Alaska Vital Statistics 2024 Annual Report released by the state Department of Health. The number of births has fallen in each of the past five years, the report showed. In 2020, there were 9,486 babies born in Alaska.

Fertility rates — defined as the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 — also continued to decline. In 2024, the statewide fertility rate was 61, down from 61.8 the year before and 65.5 in 2020.

The most popular names for boys were Oliver and Theodore. For baby girls, the most popular names were Amelia and Olivia, the report said.

At the other end of the life cycle, there were slightly fewer deaths in Alaska last year than in 2023 — 5,525 in 2024, compared to 5,544 the year before, the report said. Alaska’s death total peaked in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when 6,227 residents died, the report said. Death numbers have declined since then, and the 2024 total was similar to the 2020 total of 5,204.

Death statistics revealed that the top three causes in 2024 were the same as they were in most years: cancer, which was responsible for about a fifth of all Alaska deaths; heart disease, with totals for those deaths on the decline since 2021 and 2022; and accidents, a category that includes poisonings and drug overdoses.

COVID-19, which was the No. 3 cause of death in 2021, slipped out of the top 10 in 2023, a year when it was cited as the cause of 56 deaths. Its impact on state demographics was still small in 2024, when it was found to be the cause of 58 Alaska deaths.

Embedded in the vital statistics report were some positive signs.

Life expectancy increased to a statewide average of 77.6 years, continuing an upward trend since the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2021, when life expectancy hit a low of 75.4 years.

The teen birth rate was the lowest since 2020, the report said. That rate, which measures the number of births per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19, was 13.5 in 2024, down from 14.8 the year before.

Use of tobacco by pregnant women has also steadily declined in recent years, according to the report. In 2024, 7% of expectant mothers used tobacco, down from 11% in 2020.

Report shows declines in certain cancers. A separate report released by the department detailed cancer statistics through 2022, the year with the last available data.

The Cancer In Alaska 2022 Annual Report showed some positive trends as well.

Cancer incidence overall in Alaska decreased between 1996 and 2022, especially in the years 2009 to 2012, when incidents dropped by an annual average of 3.4%, the report said. Breast cancer remains the most frequent cancer among women, while prostate cancer is the most frequent cancer among men, the report said.

Certain types of cancers have decreased in Alaska since 2016, including leukemia, bladder cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer. There is a caveat, however. “Recent trends have started to show an increase in prostate cancer statewide and nationally,” Shirley Sakaye, a spokesperson for the department, said by email.

Also on the decline in Alaska was colorectal cancer, which ranked fourth on the list of diagnosed cancers in the state in 2022, according to the cancer report.

Colorectal cancer trends are of special concern in Alaska because of a high prevalence among Alaska Natives. Alaska Native people have had the nation’s highest recorded rates of colorectal cancer, according to a recent report by the American Cancer Society. The reasons are not fully understood by health experts, but they may relate to diet, according to the report.

While colorectal cancer numbers have declined in recent years, rates are notably high in one of the most rural regions of the state: the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Western Alaska. The colorectal cancer rate there was 88 per 100,000 people in 2022, compared to the statewide rate of 40.8 per 100,000, according to the report.

Alaska Native tribal health organizations have boosted awareness, and screening has increased over time.

Because of relatively high rates of colorectal cancer among younger adult Alaska Native people, the Alaska Native Medical Center and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium recommend that screenings start at age 40, compared to the recommendation for most Americans to start screenings at age 45.

Correction: This story has been corrected with the proper definition of fertility rate, which is births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44.

Just off Main Street in Haines, a large field sits in the shadow of Mount Ripinski.

For a few years, the land sat empty. Local Liz Landes would look at it and think: “Why isn’t that full of food?”

Now it is. Or at least, it was in September, during a tour of the property at the tail end of the harvest season.

After pulling on her rubber rain gear in the high tunnel, Landes walked into a downpour and weaved through rows of kale, herbs, pumpkins and sunflowers. She pointed out black and red currants, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus and fava beans she said were “desperately ready to harvest.”

“We’ve already surpassed 1,000 pounds for the season,” Landes said. “And honestly, we could easily have another 1,000 more with what’s still left to harvest.”

Local farmers rented the site until 2021. But then it sat unused until a new venture, known as Henderson Farm, started up before the 2024 growing season. The effort is funded by a Portland-based nonprofit called Ecotrust and fueled by the work of volunteers and local contractors, including Landes.

The farm is a bright spot for the local food system and southeast Alaska, both of which rely heavily on food that’s shipped in from incredibly far away. That process results in less fresh, less nutritious produce, Landes said, and it leads to extraordinary amounts of waste.

As she sees it, nothing encourages cutting down on waste more than toiling in the soil week after week. She points to some healthy-looking purple cabbages, which she says require a lot of time – and effort – to grow.

“I’m gonna use every freaking leaf of every cabbage that I harvest,” Landes said. “And the pieces that I can’t are gonna go into compost to make my cabbages next year.”

This year was the farm’s first full season. As of early November, seeds planted on about three quarters of an acre had yielded more than 2,800 pounds of food and counting. Landes says there will be greens to glean through the first snowfall.

None of the produce is sold. It’s all shared throughout the community, either in exchange for work or for free.

A significant chunk goes to the farm’s volunteers and contractors. But it also goes to the local senior center, a food pantry in Klukwan, a food hub in Mosquito Lake, and other community groups – like volunteer firefighters.

Helping distribute the food is one of the best parts of the job, Landes said.

“Generally, I get to go around and be the little vegetable fairy and say, ‘Thank you for the time that you give to other people, here’s a bag of peas,'” she said.

The operation is far from easy. But the farm is in somewhat of a sweet spot when compared to other parts of the Chilkat Valley and Southeast more broadly.

Taken together, the property’s workable soil, Alaska’s long summer days, and Haines’ relatively dry and warm climate are a big help.

“It’s not perfect,” she said. But “in many, many ways, the daylight itself here, with the right distribution of rain, does the work for you.”

Looking ahead to next year, Landes said she wants to continue recruiting more volunteers and potentially expand the growing area to a full acre. She also has a more specific, personal goal: making an all-Alaska gumbo.

That will hinge in part on how her okra – which grows well in hot, dry conditions – does next year.

Content warning: The following story contains references to violence and sexual assault. 

Date rape drugging, or roofying, is the use of any sedative, usually mixed with alcohol, to incapacitate a victim and facilitate a sexual assault. While anecdotal stories of suspected roofying circulate around Alaska, cases and culprits are difficult to confirm.

Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Lawrence said that’s partially due to the nature of the crime.

“Many of these medications actually their mechanism, tragically, is memory loss,” he said. “One of your neighbors will have been assaulted, and know that an assault has occurred, but have no memory of how or when or what led up to it, just because of the way that the substance itself works. So that’s the reality of the situation that we’re in,” he said.

Substances can vary and are metabolized quickly in the body. GHB or Rhohyprol, most commonly identified as date rape drugs, are tasteless and odorless. They can cause intense inebriation, dizziness, memory lapses and pain, especially when mixed with alcohol, and are used to facilitate sexual assault.

The state does not track reports of suspected drugging or a drug facilitated sexual assault, according to officials with the Alaska Department of Public Safety and Department of Health. Lawrence explained that’s due to several reasons, but does not reflect the seriousness of the issue.

“We’re talking about sexual assault in Alaska, which is a very serious problem across the whole state. And then when you add to that the element of people using a sedating or incapacitating drug in order to make it more likely that someone could be assaulted, it becomes even a more serious issue,” he said.

He said the main reason the state does not track drug facilitated sexual assault is that data collection is variable. He said incidents are both medical and legal, so information can be reported to different agencies. State agencies are limited by whether a victim decides to report to authorities and when, and whether substances are detected in their systems. “Sometimes the medical record will include that, and sometimes not. And so the absence of that data doesn’t mean that there’s not still a problem,” he said.

Homer Police Department Lieutenant Ryan Browning says the department receives calls from the community periodically to report suspected roofying.

He said they received several calls in September, and one before Halloween weekend.

“Nothing concrete…and they were all very well after the fact,” Browning said. “And one of them was almost a week later, the other one was several days (later). People reporting that they suspected they were drugged at a bar, just based on how they woke up the next morning… typically it’s, ‘I don’t remember. I was at a bar. I was drunk, and I woke up feeling like I got hit by a truck.'”

When officers notice an uptick, the department will post an alert on the Homer Police Department’s Facebook page. He urged the public to remain aware, look out for friends, take note of suspicious individuals and any unwanted or inappropriate attention, and make a report if necessary.

“I’m a big proponent of ‘you are your first responder,’ right, and keeping yourself protected and safe as much as you can, and looking for signs and things like that when we’re out doing things and having fun,” he said.

Browning said none of the recent calls resulted in a reported sexual assault in Homer.

Criminal penalties can vary, Browning said, from criminal mischief charges of intending injury or tampering with food or beverages in an attempt to injure which are felonies. Misconduct involving a controlled substance like GHB is also a felony.

Sexual violence widespread in Alaska

Sexual violence is widely prevalent in Alaska. According to the 2020 Alaska Victimization Survey, the most recent data for Alaska, roughly 58% of Alaskan women had experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence or both in their lifetime.

Current data is limited, but Alaska Native women experience the highest rates of violence and victimization. According to the Indian Law Resource Center, Alaska Native women have reported rates of domestic violence ten times higher than the rest of the United States.

In 2024, the rate of rape in Alaska was over three times the national average, according to available data by the FBI. That year, the FBI recorded 908 instances of rape statewide, or 122.5 per 100,000 people, compared to 37.3 per 100,000 people in the United States.

Only about one third of sexual assaults nationally are reported to law enforcement, according to an analysis by RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. That’s due to a variety of reasons, including a fear of retaliation, belief it was a personal matter, or that police would not or could not do anything to help.

Women are disproportionately harmed by sexual violence, but men and LGBTQ+ populations are assault survivors as well. Most assaults, an estimated 60%, are perpetrated by someone known to the victim, according to RAINN, and 30% by a stranger.

Advocates offer resources and support, urge public awareness

Leslie Scroggin is an advocate and shelter manager at South Peninsula Haven House, a domestic violence shelter in Homer, and a member of the regional Sexual Assault Response Team.

“People typically, consistently seem to feel a sense of guilt over it,” she said. “I’ve heard people say things like it was careless of them to go out after work and to go drinking, or that they should have known better, or that type of thing. And it’s also a pretty disheartening experience, because it’s something that is just completely beyond their control… they don’t even have any sort of capacity to have any control over it.”

Scroggin said while public awareness is important, the larger issue is interrupting and addressing predatory behavior and the crisis of violence against mostly women.

“It’s the individuals that are causing harm that really need to be addressed, and they’re the ones that should be taking responsibility,” she said. “And obviously, we should always do whatever we can to protect ourselves. But that shouldn’t be something that we’re just constantly doing all the time.”

Scroggin said she has seen a rise in anecdotal reports of roofying in the summer months with increased tourism, but every situation is unique. She said people should seek medical care if they need it, and can make a report anonymously.

“The forensic nurse can do a sexual assault kit anonymously, and basically that just looks like collecting evidence and then putting it into a kit that is assigned a case number, but no one’s name will be attached to it,” she said. “So then they basically will just have that evidence there, and if the person who it got collected on should decide, you know, in three months, or even a couple of years that they would like to report then, then that will be available to them.”

Scroggin said the sooner a victim completes a sexual assault kit after an incident the better, but they have up to a week.

In Valdez, Tina Russell is a direct services coordinator with Advocates for Victims of Violence, Inc. a non-profit advocacy group and domestic violence shelter serving Valdez and the Copper River Basin region. She said she also notices an uptick in suspected date rape drugging in the summer months with more tourism and the fishing season, but has not seen any confirmed cases.

She says alcohol-related cases are more typical. “People under the influence of alcohol in a high amount, and then being taken advantage of to where they felt like they really didn’t give consent. And so they’ll come and talk to us about it, and or the hospital will call,” she said.

Russell said their organization is part of an unofficial sexual assault response team at the hospital in Valdez, and advocates, nurses and the local police department have training to respond and provide support to survivors, whether they choose to make an official report or not. “There’s so many different reasons that people don’t report,” she said. “You know, all of our statistics are so under-reported.”

Lawrence, as the chief medical officer, said Alaskans should know the risk, and look out for each other, both to prevent harm and to support people going through these experiences.

“All of us can be involved in the lives of people in a way that prevents individuals from being alone,” he said.

“All of us can be there as a neighbor or for someone who has suffered an assault,” he said. “I think that’s one of the most important things for people to have when they’ve suffered rape or sexual assault, is for there to be a caring adult who is there to walk with them through the process. That’s one of the most protective factors afterwards.”

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, resources are available: 

• STAR Alaska Crisis Line: Confidential 24/7 (800) 478-8999
• AWAIC Alaska Crisis Line: (907) 272-0100
• Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN): Confidential 24/7 (800)-656-4673.
• Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault’s list of shelters
• AWARE’s list of resources
• Legal help through Alaska Legal Services Corp.

Outside the Southeast Alaska Food Bank on Thursday afternoon, dozens of people lined up to receive food.

Inside, volunteers took the slips of paper saying how many adults, kids and pets were associated with each household. They filled bags with yogurt, bread and asparagus and sent them down to the other end of the food bank, where people picked them up. 

Shannon James was in line to get food for her family.

“I stress a lot about my grandkids,” she said. “I’m not so worried about myself. I can eat Top Ramen, but the kids need nutrients and vitamins.”

After a delay caused by the federal government shutdown, some Alaskans enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — also called SNAP or food stamps — have begun to receive half their monthly benefits this week.

Despite that, the delay has driven Juneau residents to worry that their next meal isn’t guaranteed, and local organizations are stepping up their efforts to fill the gap.

James received half of her SNAP benefits on Thursday, but it was a stressful week for her family, and she said she’s not sure when the rest will come. 

“The stuff I get from SNAP, then I go to the store and get what I didn’t get from the food bank,” James said. “Because the food bank, you kind of get the regular things, and not necessarily the basics like milk and eggs and stuff.”

This week, those basic groceries were harder to get without food stamps. 

In an email, the Alaska Department of Health’s Shirley Sakaye said she expects the rest of the payments to go out next week. But she said the state hasn’t received guidance from the federal government for December if the shutdown continues. 

In the meantime, the Southeast Alaska Food Bank has prepared for more need. Dan Parks is its executive director.

“Demand is up,” he said. “We’ve been busy. This is maybe the busiest week I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

He said double the usual number of volunteers were there for Thursday’s distribution. And people are finding other ways to help.

“The thing that we have seen increase the most in the last week is donations,” Parks said. “Which is amazing, and that’s really heartening to see such a huge outpouring of support.” 

It’s needed. Organizers say the food pantry at Resurrection Lutheran Church downtown ran out of food a few hours into opening on Tuesday. 

Speaking on KTOO’s Juneau Afternoon on Thursday, Karen Lawfer said the church is stepping up its weekly efforts by adding a second night to give out hot food to anyone who needs it. 

“If food insecurity is an issue, just come on in and meet your neighbors and meet the community,” she said.

There are food pantry hours throughout the week across Juneau. Resurrection Lutheran Church is hosting a telethon to raise money for food security Saturday from 6 to 10 p.m.

Haines and Skagway have joined communities across Alaska that are doing what they can to support the more than one thousand people displaced by ex-Typhoon Halong last month.

Skagway’s donation drive is focused on clothing and gear, as opposed to food. Residents have until the end of the day on Wednesday to drop items from a long list at the Dahl Memorial Clinic, the local health care facility. Donations will be handled by nonprofits in Anchorage.

“The items that they’re looking for are clothes of any sort, preferably new, sleeping bags and pillows and hygiene items like toothbrushes and things of that nature,” said Albert Wall, the clinic’s executive director.

Wall emphasized that people should bring items that are either new or gently used – and clean. Other acceptable donations include air mattresses, duffle bags, cell phone chargers and crafting supplies.

“We’ve had a pretty good response so far,” Wall said.

In Haines, meanwhile, the Chilkoot Indian Association initially asked the community to drop off traditional, harvested foods. But council President James Hart says they will accept any food donations, as long as they’re shelf stable and not expired.

“The preference would be something that you harvested,” he said. “But we shouldn’t be pushing anything away.”

On Monday, at the tribe’s downtown office, there were several boxes of canned goods, including sockeye salmon, homemade applesauce, highbush cranberry juice and hooligan oil.

Soon, there will also be three cases of canned seal meat. Hart, along with locals Zack James and Nels Lynch, harvested the seal in late October to contribute to the effort.

Hart said he knows first-hand how important it is to help when communities are struck by disaster, referring to the 2020 atmospheric river event in Haines that triggered widespread destruction and a fatal landslide.

“I know how much we pulled together as a community, and how much outside help we received, so having the opportunity to give back in that way is special,” he said.

“My heart goes out to all those folks and the challenges they’re going to be going through,” Hart added. “They just went through a whole harvest season, and I’d assume all of that has been lost. That’s so hard to hear and think about and even fathom.”

On Wednesday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will open an emergency moose hunt in Southwest Alaska, near the town of Quinhagak, in order to help victims of ex-Typhoon Halong, which devastated communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta last month.

It’s the second emergency hunt that Fish and Game has opened to help storm victims refill their freezers before winter deepens, and it’s only the latest example of how Alaska state agencies have helped in unlikely ways after last month’s disaster, which killed at least one person and displaced hundreds.

Elsewhere, officials from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development have been coordinating new schools for evacuees who needed to move to Bethel or Anchorage.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has been helping wrangle fuel tanks set adrift in floods. Workers from the Division of Forestry and Fire Protection have been helping muck out homes, remove debris and deliver supplies to villages alongside the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and the Alaska National Guard.

In Anchorage, hundreds of miles away from the villages hardest hit by the storm, about 20 employees of the state-owned Alaska Housing Finance Corporation worked for weeks to find long-term shelter for hundreds of Alaskans who lost their homes in the disaster.

On Monday, state and city officials in Anchorage said they had closed the last mass shelters being used by evacuees because everyone had found hotels or apartments suitable for long-term use.

“This isn’t something we normally have done,” said AHFC CEO/Executive Director Bryan Butcher on Oct. 22 of the push to help evacuees find housing. “There have been different times … that people have reached out to us and asked for assistance, and we try to help when we can.”

Butcher said AHFC employees spent time checking for available state-owned housing and tried to connect evacuees with available apartments and housing across the state.

“We’ll play whatever role we need to play,” he said in late October. “And at this point, it’s just the gathering of units and then trying to help kind of piece it together so it makes the most sense and has the least amount of disruption.”

At the Department of Fish and Game, Ryan Scott is the director of the Division of Wildlife Conservation, which oversees hunting practices and issued the emergency hunting order this week.

“Our staff has been in communication with the communities, plus people who evacuated to town. And you know, I’m very proud of them, but I’m super thankful that we could help out where we could,” he said.

Scott said the department frequently gets requests for emergency hunts, but they’re only allowed in places where the population of prey animals is large enough to support them.

While the two emergency hunts in Southwest Alaska are intended to help people affected by the disaster, any state resident can participate if they meet the guidelines.

The food generated by the hunt may even be able to help people who evacuated from the area; Alaska has a system of proxy hunting that allows someone to hunt on behalf of someone else who is elderly or disabled.

In addition, evacuees may be able to take advantage of winter hunts or small-game hunts, or other subsistence activities, Scott said.

“We get into this type of work not only for the wildlife resources, but across the board it’s about the people too, you know? And then whatever we can do to help Alaskans, that’s what we want to do.”