Through its seminars and workshops, the GWU-APHL Institute provides practical knowledge and confers competency and leadership in quality public health laboratory practice.
A major weakness in current disease surveillance and prevention infrastructure is the lack of strong, national, laboratory-based surveillance systems. Limited capacity and capability to provide greater access to diagnostic testing adversely affects treatment and prevention efforts in addition to wasting treatment resources. These shortcomings result in:
• Delays in detecting, identifying and reporting outbreaks and trends in disease prevalence
• Larger numbers of cases of disease and more deaths, increased costs and wasted health care resources
GWU-APHL Institute seminars are designed to serve the needs of senior public health professionals whose responsibilities include:
• Planning, managing and directing national public health laboratory systems
• Ensuring the quality of public health laboratory practices
• Developing health policies and using public health laboratory information to plan public health programs
The Institute’s first seminar featured a two-week advanced program, “Strategic Management for Public Health Laboratory Systems,” which was attended by 21 laboratory professional representing 10 countries.