[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 3, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 22895-22897]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07195]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 65 / Wednesday, April 3, 2024 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 22895]]


                Proclamation 10722 of March 29, 2024

                
National Public Health Week, 2024

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                During National Public Health Week, we celebrate the 
                life-saving care of public health professionals who 
                work tirelessly to promote our country's health, 
                safety, and well-being. We recognize that the healthier 
                Americans are as individuals, the stronger we are as a 
                Nation.

                In the last few years, we have made enormous progress 
                in recovering from the pandemic, vaccinating 230 
                million Americans and getting kids back in school. None 
                of that would have been possible without the courage 
                and dedication of millions of first responders and 
                social workers, doctors and nurses, and scientists and 
                researchers. Public health professionals have always 
                played an essential role in the life of our Nation--
                working to boost immunizations, improve safety 
                standards for food and transportation, protect clean 
                air and water, and more. We owe them for carrying us 
                through tough times and making our country healthier 
                and more prosperous long-term. We have to help make 
                their jobs easier by investing in the health of the 
                American people.

                I have long said that health care should be a right in 
                this country, not a privilege. That is why my 
                Administration expanded coverage through the Affordable 
                Care Act. Today, more Americans have health care 
                coverage than under any other President, and millions 
                of families are saving an average of $800 per year on 
                insurance premiums. We have also invested $7.6 billion 
                in community health centers so people in rural and 
                underserved areas can get care close to home. After 
                years of trying, we have succeeded in reducing 
                prescription drug costs--for example, capping insulin 
                at $35 per month for seniors on Medicare, down from as 
                much as $400, and finally getting Medicare the 
                authority to negotiate lower drug prices, as the 
                Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans 
                Affairs have long done. Starting next year, no senior 
                on Medicare will have to pay more than $2,000 per year 
                in total out-of-pocket drug costs--not even for 
                expensive cancer medications that cost many times more.

                At the same time, we are funding scientific research 
                that will help us make quantum leaps forward in the 
                prevention, detection, and treatment of deadly 
                diseases. I established the Advanced Research Projects 
                Agency for Health, securing $2.5 billion in bipartisan 
                funding for scientists, innovators, and public health 
                professionals making these advances. Further, the First 
                Lady and I reignited the Cancer Moonshot, setting a 
                bold goal to cut the cancer death rate by at least 50 
                percent over the next 25 years and boost support for 
                people impacted by cancer. We also launched the first-
                ever White House Initiative on Women's Health Research 
                to close research gaps and maximize our ability to 
                prevent, diagnose, and treat health conditions in 
                women, like cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's 
                disease, and endometriosis.

                I am doing all I can to protect women's fundamental 
                freedom to make their own health care decisions. In the 
                wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the 
                constitutional right to choose, tens of millions of 
                Americans are living under extreme State abortion bans 
                that put women's health and lives at risk and threaten 
                doctors with jail time for providing the health

[[Page 22896]]

                care their patients need. In response, my 
                Administration has taken steps to safeguard access to 
                emergency medical care, support the ability to travel 
                for reproductive health care, and strengthen privacy 
                protections for patients and health care providers. I 
                will keep pressing the Congress to restore the 
                protections of Roe v. Wade into Federal law. It is the 
                only way to ensure reproductive freedom for women in 
                every State. At the same time, Vice President Harris is 
                leading the effort to combat the maternal health crisis 
                that is gripping our country, which has been especially 
                devastating to Black and Native women and women in 
                rural communities, where maternal mortality rates are 
                unconscionably high.

                We are also making historic investments in improving 
                mental health by putting more counselors in schools and 
                pushing insurers to cover mental health care at the 
                same level as any other care.

                We are working hard to ensure that substance use 
                disorder is treated like any other disease by funding 
                the expansion of prevention, harm reduction, treatment, 
                and recovery support services. My Administration 
                removed decades--long administrative barriers to 
                treatment of opioid use disorder and expanded access to 
                opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone, and 
                we are continuing to advance efforts to address the 
                overdose epidemic and save lives. We are working to end 
                the epidemic of gun violence that has shattered far too 
                many American lives. Two summers ago, I signed the most 
                significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years, funding 
                States' implementation of red flag laws and enhancing 
                background checks for gun buyers under 21. I launched 
                the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence 
                Prevention. I was also proud to sign the reauthorized 
                Violence Against Women Act, building on the law that I 
                first wrote years ago to expand protections and 
                resources for today's domestic violence survivors.

                Meanwhile, my Administration is making the largest 
                investment ever in fighting the public health crises 
                caused by climate change. We are working to make 
                communities more resilient to extreme weather and 
                ensuring that 40 percent of our clean energy 
                investments flow to the disadvantaged areas that have 
                borne the brunt of toxic pollution for too long. 
                Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are also 
                replacing every poisonous lead pipe in the country so 
                anyone in America can turn on the faucet and drink 
                clean water. We have released a national strategy to 
                end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases, including 
                expanding access to nutrition and obesity counseling, 
                and we are providing millions of students with free, 
                nutritious school meals.

                Globally, we are making key investments to combat 
                health challenges like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, 
                cancer, and COVID. With the G20 and other partners, we 
                created the Pandemic Fund to strengthen global pandemic 
                preparedness, prevention, and response. At home, we 
                invested over $7 billion to help State and local public 
                health departments prepare for future crises, and we 
                launched Public Health AmeriCorps to train a strong, 
                diverse public health workforce for tomorrow.

                These are vital steps needed to protect the American 
                people. During National Public Health Week, we are 
                reminded how interconnected everyone's health and well-
                being are and that we are truly all in this together. 
                By continuing to invest in public health, we can help 
                ensure that the lessons of the last 4 years make our 
                Nation stronger for the future.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 1 
                through April 7, 2024, as National Public Health Week. 
                I call on all citizens, government agencies, private 
                businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other groups 
                to take action to improve the health of our Nation.

[[Page 22897]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                eighth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2024-07195
Filed 4-2-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P