ADVocacy and policy

The mission of the Nevada Public Health Association (NPHA) is to serve as the voice for public health in Nevada in order to improve health and achieve health equity Nevada. In keeping with this mission and our vision of a healthy Nevada, NPHA organizes its advocacy efforts around five overarching priorities:

• Building public health infrastructure and capacity
• Creating health equity
• Ensuring the right to health and health care
• Promoting evidence-based policymaking
• Advocating for Health in All Policies

As an affiliate of the American Public Health Association (APHA), NPHA’s advocacy work is closely aligned with APHA’s advocacy and policy agenda.  

2026 NPHA Advocacy Agenda
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2026 NPHA Advocacy and Policy Agenda

During 2026 and consistent with NPHA’s overarching advocacy and policy priorities, NPHA will focus its advocacy efforts on the following issues:

• Advocating for permanent sources of funding for local health authorities to address current and emerging threats to public health, including maintaining sustainable, flexible and non-categorical funding for public health
• Supporting efforts to expand and diversify dedicated public revenue streams to fund health and human services in Nevada
• Advocating for state and local vaccine policy that follows the most current science-based recommendations of public health and medical research
• Supporting policies that strengthen the authority of local and state public health officials to issue and enforce public health emergency orders and responses to public health threats in Nevada
• Building public health capacity and promoting the delivery of core public health services in all areas of the state, including rural and frontier counties
• Advocating for appropriate and sufficient funding to prepare for infectious disease outbreaks
• Ensuring access to comprehensive health insurance coverage and health care services for all Nevada residents, including chronic disease management, oral health services, and behavioral health care
• Supporting the spectrum of prevention and treatment for mental and behavioral health disorders, including screening and early identification of disorders, mental health promotion, and brief interventions
• 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 vaping prevention and control through pricing strategies on cigarettes and other tobacco products
• Supporting comprehensive policies to eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke in workplaces exempted by the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act
• Promoting an effective public health policy and regulatory structure for legal cannabis sales and use that is supported by current evidence and best practices on advertising and marketing, youth use prevention and control, and packaging and warning labels.   
• Supporting the development of a science-based public health framework for the effective regulation of psychedelics
• Supporting science-based firearm injury and death prevention, including policy that improves the safe storage of firearms
• Promoting policies that support healthy lifestyles and active living, nutritious eating, and built environments that integrate physical activity and access to healthy foods into daily life
• Promoting and protecting maternal, child, and adolescent health in Nevada, including access to reproductive services and addressing maternal health deserts in rural and frontier counties
• Support for evidence-based injury prevention, including funding for programs and policies to reduce preventable transportation-related injuries and fatalities
• 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 and culturally representative clinical, behavioral health, and public health workforce, including integration of community health workers across health and human service settings
• 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 john.f.packham@gmail.com.

Approved by the NPHA Board of Directors on January 17, 2026.