2024 NPHA Advocacy Agenda
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During 2024 and consistent with NPHA’s overarching priorities, NPHA will focus its advocacy efforts on the following advocacy and policy issues:

• Advocating for permanent sources of funding for local health authorities to address current and emerging threats to public health, including maintaining flexible funding for public health
• Supporting policies that strengthen the authority and flexibility of local and state public health officials to issue and enforce public health emergency orders and responses to public health threats in Nevada, such as isolating individuals with transmissible active tuberculosis
• Building public health capacity in Nevada, including the establishment of county or regional health districts in rural areas of the state
• Supporting efforts to expand and diversify dedicated revenue streams to fund public health, health care, and human services in Nevada
• Ensuring access to affordable, high-quality, culturally competent clinical and preventive services for all Nevada residents, including chronic disease management, oral health services, substance use treatment, and behavioral health care
• Supporting the spectrum of prevention, harm reduction strategies, and treatment for mental and behavioral health disorders, including addiction and substance use disorders
• Supporting policies and budget recommendations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change at the local and state level in Nevada
• Advocating for comprehensive, medically accurate education on reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, and healthy relationships in Nevada’s K-12 public schools
• Advocating for sustained and stable funding for evidence-based tobacco and e-cigarette prevention and control programs
• Supporting comprehensive policies to eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke in workplaces
• Promoting an effective public health regulatory and enforcement structure for legal cannabis sales and use that is supported by current evidence and best practices from other US states
• Supporting the development of a science-based public health framework for the safe and effective use and regulation of psychedelics
• Supporting science-based firearm injury and death prevention, including advocacy for the enforcement of existing policy on background checks on all gun purchases
• Promoting healthy lifestyles through nutritious eating and active living, including the creation of built environments that integrate physical activity into daily life and access to healthy foods
• Promoting and protecting maternal, child, and adolescent health in Nevada, including advocacy for reproductive justice, and access to affordable abortion and reproductive services
• Supporting efforts to increase access to recommended immunizations for all ages and efforts to address vaccine hesitancy and misinformation
• Support for evidence-based injury prevention, including funding for programs and policies to reduce preventable transportation-related injuries and fatalities, such as vulnerable road users
• Advocating for HIV and sexually transmitted infections modernization and reform in Nevada
• Supporting efforts to mitigate and reduce intimate partner violence and domestic violence, including sexual and gender based violence
• Advocating for funding and policy to ensure Nevada possesses a qualified, diverse, and culturally humble clinical, behavioral health, and public health workforce
• Advocating for policy measures that address health equity and the social determinants of health in Nevada, such as affordable housing policy and food security

NPHA has the flexibility to educate, inform, and act, when appropriate, on other pressing public health issues that may not be easily categorized within our current advocacy agenda.

NPHA Advocacy and Policy Committee

The NPHA Board of Directors established its Advocacy and Policy Committee in 2008 to oversee the development and implementation of the association’s advocacy, legislative, and policy activities.

For additional information about the Nevada Public Health Association and the work for the NPHA Advocacy and Policy Committee, visit www.nphaonline.org or contact NPHA Policy Director, Dr. John Packham at jpackham@med.unr.edu.

Approved by the NPHA Board of Directors on January 25, 2024.