ASTHO Applauds HHS Adoption of New National Standard for Newborn Screening
Arlington, VA June 15, 2010 - The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials is pleased that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has added Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease to the core newborn screening panel, bringing the core panel from 29 to 30. Additionally, we applaud the Secretary’s adoption of the 30 core conditions as the national standard. Having a uniform panel across the states will guarantee better access to prevention of significant morbidity and mortality and early identification, diagnosis and treatment of infants with these conditions.
Early identification, diagnosis, and treatment of infants with disorders identified during newborn screening prevents serious or life-threatening conditions before symptoms begin and is essential for future disease prevention. Each year, over four million newborns in the United States are screened for a variety of genetic and other congenital disorders such as hearing loss, phenylketonuria, sickel cell disease and other conditions that can be clinically missed. Newborn screening tests help to prevent or limit the medical consequences associated with metabolic, endocrine, hemoglobin, infectious, hearing, and other generally asymptomatic conditions.
State public health agencies have been administering newborn screening programs for over 40 years and conduct over 97% of tests. The panel of disorders that newborns are screened for varies from state to state, with all 50 states and the District of Columbia screening for 26 of the 30 core panel disorders. Read ASTHO’s position statement on newborn screening.
ASTHO looks forward to working with HHS to provide technical assistance to states regarding the addition of SCID and the implementation of the universal panel.”
Contact: Paula Steib, 571-527-3173; psteib@astho.org
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About ASTHO
ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and the District of Columbia, as well as the 120,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to assuring excellence in state-based public health practice.