National Public Health Week, 2016

Proclamation 9416 of April 1, 2016

National Public Health Week, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

During National Public Health Week, we join together to
enhance public health--the foundation of our security
and well-being--here at home and around the world. By
supporting health professionals and embracing our
obligations to promote public health and protect our
planet, we can uphold our shared responsibility to
preserve the promise of a happy and healthy life for
our children and grandchildren.

Ensuring all Americans have access to quality,
affordable health insurance is imperative for
maintaining our public health, and I am proud that 6
years after I signed it, the Affordable Care Act has
extended the peace of mind that comes with health
coverage to 20 million Americans. First Lady Michelle
Obama's Let's Move! initiative is encouraging more
physical activity and nutritious food choices for our
Nation's youth, engaging parents and kids in the work
of building stronger, healthier communities. To spare
more American families heartbreak, I have proposed over
1 billion dollars in new funding to address
prescription opioid abuse and heroin use, a public
health issue that has taken a devastating toll on too
many. We are also striving to promote mental health as
an essential component of overall health, helping
ensure access to mental health care and services and
working to prevent suicide. And because public safety
is a critical component of addressing public health, I
announced new, commonsense steps this year to help
address our country's epidemic of gun violence and keep
our neighborhoods safe.

Just as we must sustain a healthy world today, we must
do everything in our power to preserve it for those who
will inherit it. Climate change has a profound impact
on our public health, contributing to intensified smog,
an extended allergy season, the spread of diseases into
new regions, and greater and more acute incidence of
asthma. Last year, the White House hosted a Summit on
Climate Change and Health to expand awareness of the
real threat a changing climate poses to our health and
to focus on vulnerable groups who may face more serious
challenges adapting to climate change. No community is
immune to this reality, nor can any nation cordon
itself off from climate or the air we share. That is
why last year, along with nearly 200 countries from
around the world, the United States negotiated the
Paris Agreement--the most ambitious climate change
agreement in history that commits all participating
parties to putting forward climate targets of growing
stringency to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
Adopting this agreement for an international framework
builds on domestic actions we have already taken to
invest in clean energy, reduce our carbon emissions,
and transition to a cleaner, healthier, and more
sustainable future.

Like the threat of climate change, other public health
challenges--like infectious diseases--cannot be
addressed by any one nation alone. In an increasingly
interconnected world, we face new trials that demand
international attention. My Administration is working
with our international partners to combat antibiotic-
resistant bacteria. We also launched the Global Health
Security Agenda, which aims to strengthen all
countries' public health systems and stop the spread of
disease outbreaks by ensuring nations from

around the world have the capacity to prevent, detect,
and respond to biological threats to our health and
safety. Already, this cooperation is helping us
confront the spread of the Zika virus.

America is built on the notion that we are our
brothers' and our sisters' keepers, and that we all
have certain obligations to one another. Never is that
idea truer than when ensuring the health of the world
our children will live in long after we are gone. This
week, let us treat every child as if they are our own
by accepting our responsibilities to leave them with a
healthier, cleaner planet than we have, and let us
continue reaching for a brighter, more secure future
for all the world's people.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, 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 4 through April
10, 2016, as National Public Health Week. I call on all
citizens, government agencies, private businesses, non-
profit organizations, and other groups to join in
activities and take action to improve the health of our
Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
first day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and fortieth.