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Association of Public Health Laboratories



The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) works to safeguard the public's health by strengthening government laboratories with a public health mandate in the United States and across the world. In collaboration with members, APHL advances laboratory systems and practices, and promotes policies that support healthy communities. Membership consists of city, county and state public health laboratories, environmental laboratories and others with an interest in laboratory surveillance and diagnostics. APHL is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization with a history of over fifty years.[1]

Contents

Vision

A healthier world through quality laboratory practice.

Mission

To promote the role of public health laboratories in support of national and global health objectives, and to promote policies and programs which assure continuous improvement in laboratory practice.

Public Health Laboratories

Public health laboratories monitor, diagnose and control diseases and other agents that could potentially threaten population health. In contrast to private medical laboratories, which conduct testing to diagnose conditions affecting individual patients, public health laboratories safeguard the health of communities. Public health laboratories work in tandem with state and local public health and emergency response authorities, and with federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. Examples of their work follow:

  • Monitor communications for pathogens that spread in food or through contact with people or animals.
  • Test drinking and some recreational water for bacteria, parasites, pesticides and other harmful substances.
  • Rapidly identify suspect agents, as in 2001 when public health laboratories tested over 1,200 specimens a day during the anthrax attacks, ultimately conducting over one million laboratory analyses.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.aphl.org/about_aphl/
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Association_of_Public_Health_Laboratories". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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