Effective Advocacy Strategies For Influencing Government Nutrition Policy Essay

Discussion Post
Research legislation that has occurred within the last 5 years at the state or federal level as a result of nurse advocacy.
S.571 – Public Health Funding Prevents Pandemics Act
Describe the legislation and what was accomplished.
The bill is before the Senate having been read twice and referred to the committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on 3rd March, 2021. The bill is currently before the committee. The bill seeks to increase the annual funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund for the financial years between 2022 and 2027. Through the legislation, there is an expectation that the fund will offer greater support for public health activities conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, and targeted at wellness and prevention to include tracking and researching public health threats (Congress.gov, 2022). Effective Advocacy Strategies For Influencing Government Nutrition Policy Essay

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Nurse advocacy, particularly the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) has brought the attention of policy makers, legislators and public to the bill by reporting that although it was created in the Affordable Care Act, it has never received the funding that was initially intended. The advocacy efforts also reveal that enacting the bill would support nurses and other healthcare providers with resources and enable them to improve preventive services. Besides that, the advocacy efforts bring attention to the fact that nurses and other providers are facing increasing challenges in the health care environment, especially in the face of Covid-19 pandemic. The increased funding would help in addressing the challenges by ensuring that communities have access to preventive services and immunization/vaccination (Lagattolla, 2021).
What additional steps need to be taken to continue advocacy for this issue?
Advocacy efforts have focused on bringing attention to the positives that can be achieved by enacting the legislation. Still, more can be done to garner more support for the legislation. Firstly, create a social network of influential actors in the policy. This is important for addressing their concerns and ensuring that the final framing of the bill is resultant of consensus and receives support from all stakeholders. Secondly, conduct in-depth interviews with the stakeholders to understand and incorporate their concerns into the bill. This ensures that the diverse perspectives are included (Collerton et al., 2018). Effective Advocacy Strategies For Influencing Government Nutrition Policy Essay
References
Congress.gov (2022). All Information (Except Text) for S.571 – Public Health Funding Prevents Pandemics Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/571/all-info
Collerton, K., Donnet, T., Lee, A., & Gallegos, D. (2018). Effective advocacy strategies for influencing government nutrition policy: a conceptual model. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 15, Article number 83. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-018-0716-y
Lagattolla, A. (2021, August 3). New Nursing Legislation Shows How Advocacy Pays Off. https://www.nurse.com/blog/2021/08/03/new-nursing-legislation-shows-how-advocacy-pays-off/ Effective Advocacy Strategies For Influencing Government Nutrition Policy Essay