NIHB Joins Coalition in Letter Supporting Nutrition and Health Provisions
On April 3, 2020, the National Indian Health Board along with sister Native organizations sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar urging the agency to promptly issue guidance on how the Indian Health Service, tribal and urban health systems will access funding from the CARES Act to ensure the health and well-being of tribal community members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NIHB along with the National Congress of American Indians, the Native Farm Bill Coalition, the National Indian Education Association, the National Council of Urban Indian Health, the United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and the Tribal Self-Governance Advisory Committee sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue providing recommendations for rapid disbursement of the $100 million in additional funding for the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) under the CARES Act. This letter urges USDA to ensure FDPIR funds are distributed with maximum administration flexibility for the Tribes and ensure funds are delivered to the Tribes as expeditiously a possible to address nutrition priorities.
The full letter may be read here.
The coalition sent an additional letter to US Department of Health and Human Services Alex Azar urging prompt issue of guidance for how Indian Health Service and I/T/U health sytems may access funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act includes significant direct funding for the care of American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) including $1.032 billion for the IHS Services Account; a minimum of $125 million set aside for public health through the CDC; a minimum of $15 million set aside for mental and behavioral health services through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); and a minimum of $15 million set aside for health surveillance through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
For the most rapid and comprehensive distribution of funds, the coalition made the following recommendations:
- Quickly engage in meaningful Tribal consultant and Urban confer
- Ensure the appropriate Tribal advisory committe (TAC) is included in the agency decision-making as a supplemental to Tribal conultant and Urban confer
- Implement ways to facilitate interagency transfers of funding that Tribal nations can access to address COVID-19 and its impacts so that funding can be disbursed to Tribal nations quickly
- Implement ways to disburse funding to Tribal nations using existing funding mechanisms already in place when possible
The full letter may be read here.