In 2014, the Healthy Diné Nation Act was enacted mandating a 2-percent tax on all “foods of little-to-no-nutritious value” purchased in Navajo Nation retail stores. The law was designed to promote health and combat high rates of overweight and obesity—along with diseases such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. The tax applies to high-fat baked goods and high-sugar items, including sweetened beverages, chips, candy, frozen desserts, pastries and fried foods. In 2017, a team of officials from the Navajo Tribal Epidemiology Center and the Navajo Nation collaborated with faculty members of NAU’s Department of Health Sciences to study the implementation of the tax. During this initial one-year study, funded through a $225,000 grant, the team gathered data on how funds were collected, distributed to tribal chapters and invested to improve the health of tribal members. Now, with a new $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the team is embarking on a four-year project to determine the impact of the ACT.
