Public health laboratory
A public health laboratory is a laboratory that serves regional, national, or in some cases global communities by providing clinical diagnostic testing, environmental testing, disease diagnosis and evaluation, emergency response support, applied research, regulation and standards recommendations, laboratory training, and other essential services to the communities they serve.[1][2][3][4]
A public health laboratory is unlike the average commercial laboratory because it is "integrated into the broader public health system."[1] The public health laboratory must typically meet more stringent requirements, including adhering to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) (for labs in the United States) as well as regulations laid out by the departments, agencies, and other regulatory bodies of local, state, and/or national governments. Finally, the private medical laboratory focuses on tests focused on diagnosing the diseases of individuals, while the functions of the public health laboratory serve entire populations.[1][4]
Organization and regulation
In the United States
Internationally
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) has supported and expanded the needed skills and infrastructure for world governments to better detect, investigate, and report public health threats. Public health laboratories and/or governments around the world have been targeted by WHO with at least three different programs:
- Health Laboratory Strengthening: strengthen national laboratory systems; support quality laboratory system implementations; improve networking between public health labs and surveillance and response systems; increase domestic testing capacity; support laboratory workforce development[5]
- Biosafety and Laboratory Biosecurity: promote the advancement of biorisk management, including biosafety and laboratory biosecurity; provide tools to better protect people in and around laboratory environments; promote a culture towards responsible biorisk management worldwide[6]
- Laboratory Twinning Initiative: "strengthen laboratory capacity through the establishment of twinning projects between resource limited laboratories and specialized institutions"[7]
Association of Public Health Laboratories
Though primarily a U.S.-based association, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) has a Global Health Program that aids resource-strapped countries with[8][9]:
- building national laboratory networks
- implementing laboratory training programs
- planning and managing renovation projects
- implementing laboratory information systems
- procuring laboratory equipment and supplies
- providing advanced training to senior laboratory professionals
The APHL and its Global Health Program are also partners in the WHO's Laboratory Twinning Initiative.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Becker, Scott; Perlman, Eva J.; Jenkins, Wiley (ed.) (2010). "Chapter 1: An Introduction to Public Health Laboratories". Public Health Laboratories: Analysis, Operations, and Management. Jones & Bartlett Learning. pp. 01–14. ISBN 0763771023. http://books.google.com/books?id=6SDqL72zPRUC.
- ↑ Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century, Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (2003). "Chapter 3: The Governmental Public Health Structure". The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century. National Academies Press. pp. 136–146. ISBN 0309133181. http://books.google.com/books?id=qa8XYZQprt0C.
- ↑ "About Public Health Labs". Association of Public Health Laboratories. http://www.aphl.org/AboutAPHL/aboutphls/Pages/default.aspx. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Becker, Scott J.; Blank, Eric C.; Martin, Robert; Skeels, Michael; Novick, Lloyd F. (ed.); Mays, Glen P. (ed.) (2005). "Chapter 27: Public Health Laboratory Administration". Public Health Administration: Principles for Population-based Management. Jones & Bartlett Learning. pp. 623–627. ISBN 0763740780. http://books.google.com/books?id=bFBPMcQe6ogC.
- ↑ "Health laboratory strengthening". World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/ihr/lyon/hls/en/index.html. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- ↑ "Biosafety and laboratory biosecurity". World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/ihr/biosafety/en/index.html. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- ↑ "Laboratory Twinning Initiative". World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/ihr/lyon/twinning/en/index.html. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- ↑ "Global Health - About Us". Association of Public Health Laboratories. http://www.aphl.org/aphlprograms/global/aboutus/pages/default.aspx. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- ↑ "APHL's vision statement: A healthier world through quality lab practice". Medical Laboratory Observer. December 2009. http://www.mlo-online.com/articles/200912/aphls-vision-statement-a-healthier-world-through-quality-lab-practice.php. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
