The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) joined Trust for America’s Health and more than 200 other organizations in the public health and scientific research community to ask Congress to include the Public Health Infrastructure Saves Lives Act (PHISLA, S. 674) in any infrastructure and jobs legislation being developed.
The PHISLA would strengthen the nation’s public health capabilities by establishing a Core Public Health Infrastructure Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through grants to state, territorial, local, and Tribal health departments. It would also ramp up over five years to $4.5 billion in annual funding to bolster the nation’s efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen our ability to respond to other public health crises and support the development and implementation of national public health accreditation.
As noted in the letter, “The legislation would fill long-standing gaps in public health, enable modernization of archaic technologies and systems, and build a foundation for a more effective, efficient public health response to future pandemics… Congress has an opportunity to provide sustainable support to build a modern, ready public health system, rather than continue to react to disasters with short-term funding that only addresses the immediate crisis.”
Read The Letter
