This document provides technical support to Member States in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions on the steps required to develop and effectively implement a national laboratory policy and national laboratory plan in accordance with the Asia Pacific Strategy for Strengthening Health Laboratory Services (2010-2015). The document provides a structure for developing a comprehensive policy and regulatory framework for establishing, operating and monitoring the health laboratory services, and promoting better coordination of activities among health programs and institutions for efficient support to both clinical and public health services.

"The Nation has lost sight of its public health goals and has allowed the system of public health to fall into 'disarray'," from The Future of Public Health. This startling book contains proposals for ensuring that public health service programs are efficient and effective enough to deal not only with the topics of today, but also with those of tomorrow. In addition, the authors make recommendations for core functions in public health assessment, policy development, and service assurances, and identify the level of government--federal, state, and local--at which these functions would best be handled.

This issue of Clinics in Laboratory Medicine, edited by Dr. Dan Milner, will focus on Global Health and Pathology. Topics include, but are not limited to: Clinical Laboratory Volunteerism, Pathologists Overseas; Anatomic Pathology Volunteerism; Funding Strategies in Research and Global Pathology; Diagnostics for Cancer and Health Systems building through pathology laboratories; Training the next pathologists in global health; Maximizing internet resources for improving pathology/lab medicine in LMICs; Pathology-based research in Africa; HIV and Cancer: Role of Pathology in success; Lymphoma and Pathology in Africa: Current approaches and future diagnostics; Laboratory Capacity as a tool for building health systems; Building Cross Country Networks for Laboratory Capacity and improvement; Lab accreditation; Practical success in Telepathology experiences in Africa; Pathology and WHO vision of the future of LMICs; Breast Cancer in LMICs: Why we need pathology and clinical trial capability to solve this challenge; Cytopathology in LMICs: why and how to integrate to capacitate healthcare; and Biorepositories and Data Cores for Research in Global Health.

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

"Public Health Laboratories: Analysis, Operations, and Management presents a unique exploration of the inner workings of PHLs for students in the field of health care, including clinical laboratory sciences, healthcare management, and environmental health." "This singular text-the only book of its kind - delves into the science and management of PHLs in the United States, from the basics of microbial, chemical, and radiological analysis to personnel, certification, and budget issues. More than a litany of tests and procedures, Public Health Laboratories: Analysis, Operations, and Management details the background of each disease, compound, or agent in question and explains the range of analyses and algorithms available for its evaluation." "Public Health Laboratories: Analysis, Operations, and Management places the work of PHLs into a contemporary context, examining their critical importance with regard to terrorism preparedness, disaster relief, and infectious disease response as --

Achieving, maintaining and improving accuracy, timeliness and reliability are major challenges for health laboratories. Countries worldwide committed themselves to build national capacities for the detection of, and response to, public health events of international concern when they decided to engage in the International Health Regulations implementation process. Only sound management of quality in health laboratories will enable countries to produce test results that the international community will trust in cases of international emergency. This handbook was developed through collaboration between the WHO Lyon Office for National Epidemic Preparedness and Response, the United States of America Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Laboratory Systems, and the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). It is based on training sessions and modules provided by the CDC and WHO in more than 25 countries, and on guidelines for implementation of ISO 15189 in diagnostic laboratories, developed by CLSI. This handbook is intended to provide a comprehensive reference on Laboratory Quality Management System for all stakeholders in health laboratory processes, from management, to administration, to bench-work laboratorians. This handbook covers topics that are essential for quality management of a public health or clinical laboratory. They are based on both ISO 15189 and CLSI GP26-A3 documents. Each topic is discussed in a separate chapter. The chapters follow the framework developed by CLSI and are organized as the "12 Quality System Essentials".

The burden of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on the public health care system continues to remain significant despite the remarkable progress made in HCV therapeutics in the recent past. There are now almost a dozen oral interferon-free direct-acting antivirals available for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection. Despite advances in the treatment of HCV, therapeutic gaps remain that are yet to be fully explored. Researchers and scientists still strive to understand virus-host interactions to map the disease’s progression along with extrahepatic manifestations and virus invasion strategies impacting the host’s immune system. This book briefly discusses the biology of HCV infection, virus-host interactions, molecular epidemiology of the infection, and the full spectrum of immune responses to hepatitis C. It also provides in-depth information about HCV, clinical diagnostics, and therapeutic knowledge to all stakeholders involved in HCV screening, diagnosis, treatment, and management. Topics covered in the chapters include 1) HCV-host interactions leading to asymptomatic acute infection, 2) the progression of acute HCV infection to chronic disease and subsequent extrahepatic comorbidities, 3) Innate and adaptive immune responses in HCV infections, 4) Consensus-based Approaches for Hepatitis C Screening and Diagnosis, 5) advances in hepatitis C therapy and global management of HCV, and 6) the outcomes of Oral Interferon-free Direct-acting Antivirals as Combination Therapies to Cure Hepatitis C. This book is a valuable addition to undergraduate and postgraduate hepatology students and physicians, clinicians, hepatologists, and health care officials involved in HCV clinical diagnosis and therapeutics.

Bioterrorism, drug-resistant disease, transmission of disease by global travel . . . there's no shortage of challenges facing America's public health officials. Men and women preparing to enter the field require state-of-the-art training to meet these increasing threats to the public health. But are the programs they rely on provide the high caliber professional training they require? Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? provides an overview of the past, present, and future of public health education, assessing its readiness to provide the training and education needed to prepare men and women to face 21st century challenges. Advocating an ecological approach to public health, the Institute of Medicine examines the role of public health schools and degree-granting programs, medical schools, nursing schools, and government agencies, as well as other institutions that foster public health education and leadership. Specific recommendations address the content of public health education, qualifications for faculty, availability of supervised practice, opportunities for cross-disciplinary research and education, cooperation with government agencies, and government funding for education. Eight areas of critical importance to public health education in the 21st century are examined in depth: informatics, genomics, communication, cultural competence, community-based participatory research, global health, policy and law, and public health ethics. The book also includes a discussion of the policy implications of its ecological framework.