Priorities

APHL annually identifies federal policy measures needed to improve the operations of laboratories involved with public health testing. It presents its recommendations in fact sheets.

Saved Topics: APHL, Legislation, Policy Statements, Public Policy

Environmental Health

Biomonitoring: Analysis of Human Exposure to Chemicals

Data from biomonitoring assess exposure to environmental chemicals in the US population and provide valuable information when correlated with health outcome data.

Environmental Laboratories: Protecting Our Water from Contamination

State and local laboratories are the first line of defense in response to environmental contamination.

Newborn Screening: Promoting the Health of America's Future

Newborn screening is a vital responsibility with profound and lifelong consequences for the thousands of infants diagnosed each year with heritable and genetic conditions.

Emergency Preparedness

BIological Preparedness Must be Maintained

Increased direct funding for CDC to provide reagents is essential in assuring preparedness for terrorist events and public health emergencies.

Chemical Terrorism: We're STILL Not Ready

Despite the fact that public health and environmental laboratories are at the forefront of efforts to identify, test and characterize chemical threats, funding continues to decline sharply.

Radiological Preparedness

To address gaps in the nation’s ability to respond to radiologic terrorism, APHL requests funds for expanding CDC’s Urine Radionuclide Screens to measure 22 high-priority radionuclides and establishing the regional radiological Laboratory Response Network.

Food Safety

Ensuring the Early Detection of Foodborne Diseases

The national laboratory capacity for food testing is stronger than it has ever been; however, notable gaps remain.

Infectious Diseases

Lack of Funds Jeopardizes Disease Detection

Increased funding is essential to preserve existing capabilities and capacity, enhance surveillance for new strains of influenza and provide improved responsiveness to the growing problem of emerging diseases.

Tuberculosis: A Serious Re-Emerging Threat

To reach the goal of elimination of tuberculosis in the US, improvements in laboratory testing must be maintained and translated into improvements in the treatment, prevention and control of tuberculosis.

Revitalizing Domestic HIV/AIDS Efforts

A vital part of CDC’s professional judgment budget includes scaling up HIV testing initiatives, improving HIV monitoring systems and developing new tools to aggressively fight HIV/AIDS.

Public Health Informatics

Laboratories Must be Able to Transmit Test AND Result Data Electronically

While public health informatics has become the top agenda item of many governmental agencies and private institutions, unfortunately there is wide disparity in the ability of public health laboratories to share their data electronically.