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$20 million earmarked for national disease surveillance
network
Posted
1-17-2000 New York. President Clinton announced Jan. 10 that the fiscal 2001 federal budget will include a nearly 50 percent increase in funding for a program aimed at improving the nation's ability to target, contain, and prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases. The $20 million increase will help fund development of a nationwide electronic disease surveillance network. The funds will also help pay for a new initiative to use private sector laboratories in surveillance efforts. Private commercial labs would automatically send infectious disease surveillance information to public health departments for analysis and integration into larger surveillance efforts. The government has run pilot projects of this type of system in seven states and has found that reports of infectious diseases have risen significantly, as high as 23 percent. According to a White House statement, the increased funding supplements the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) current budget of $44.3 million. The White House said that the new system would "ensure the timely transmission of information from physicians and health facilities on the front lines to state health departments and the CDC in order to rapidly assimilate information, pinpoint potential outbreaks, and alert healthcare providers if there is a potential infectious disease threat." The information collected through the surveillance system will be compiled and sent to physicians, which will enable them to better determine appropriate care.
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