The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) was highly visible at today’s “White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities” celebration event. NACDS and member company representatives participated first-hand in the event, demonstrating the unique and powerful role of pharmacy when it comes to delivering total health and wellness solutions to communities nationwide.
NACDS was represented at the White House today by NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson.
The White House Challenge — which was announced in March 2023 — builds on the September 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, during which NACDS made commitments that reflect the Biden Administration’s ultimate goal of ending hunger and reducing diet-related diseases by 2030.
The White House Challenge is a nationwide call-to-action urging stakeholders to further those commitments and bring the nation closer to the Biden Administration’s goal.
NACDS’ second commitment — which was jointly submitted with the prestigious Milken Institute — was highlighted at today’s White House Challenge celebration event. The groups stated the following in their commitment:
Within the next year, the Milken Institute will collaborate with the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) to build a movement where pharmacies are central in scaling Food Is Medicine interventions to enhance access and uptake across communities. The Milken Institute and NACDS will work with multi-sectoral stakeholders and experts to determine the policy, infrastructure, operational, and programmatic steps necessary to leverage pharmacies in expanding access to Food Is Medicine interventions for communities with high rates of diet-related disease and food insecurity. To further amplify these efforts, the Milken Institute and NACDS will lift up this commitment to national audiences of key policymakers, healthcare and patient advocates, and private and public stakeholders. The learnings of this work will be leveraged to promote scalable implementation of accessible and sustainable Food is Medicine interventions across diverse communities.
In the coming months, NACDS and the Milken Institute will release an Action Plan with additional details about the project and its goals.
“We are proud to continue to support the Biden Administration’s bold goal to end hunger and increase healthy eating by 2030 — so that fewer Americans experience diet-related diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and hypertension,” said NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson. “At the September 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, NACDS committed to certain proposals, and the White House Conference played an essential role in helping to amplify all that pharmacies and pharmacists can do when it comes to driving hunger-relief efforts, providing prevention and management services for chronic disease, and addressing broader health and wellness issues. We look forward to continued collaboration with other healthcare providers and stakeholders to build on these important commitments for the ultimate benefit of the Americans pharmacies serve every day.”
NACDS’ priority focus on health and wellness innovation was recently on display at the January 31 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Food is Medicine Summit. At the event, NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson joined policymakers, advocates, researchers, and stakeholders to discuss collaborative ways to scale food is medicine initiatives.
Of note, Anderson made mention of NACDS’ unprecedented collaboration with the Milken Institute to make food prescriptions a reality for patients in the pharmacy and at retail. He also detailed NACDS’ collaborative work with leading health organizations through Nourish My Health, a national public health education campaign amplifying the importance of preventive screenings and raising awareness of the power of nutritious food as a part of lifestyle changes to improve health outcomes. Both collaborations evolved out of the Association’s participation in the September 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.
NACDS also discussed these future-focused initiatives at the 2023 Milken Institute Future of Health Summit, which took place November 6-8, 2023, in Washington, DC.
