U.S., Mexico To Adopt Guidelines for Sharing Public Health Data

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

U.S., Mexico To Adopt Guidelines for Sharing Public Health Data

On Tuesday, HHS officials announced that the U.S. and Mexico have reached an agreement to adopt a set of technical guidelines outlining how information will be shared during public health events and emergencies, Modern Healthcare reports (Barr, Modern Healthcare, 5/22).

The new guidelines aim to help the countries exchange information for various public health activities, such as:

Tracking patients with HIV/AIDS or hepatitis to ensure that they receive proper care; and
Coordinating efforts to decrease the spread of epidemics or outbreaks like influenza and pertussis.

Officials also announced that Mexico has joined CDC's Laboratory Response Network, which links national and international laboratories to better respond to public health emergencies. Mexico is the fourth country to join the network after Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom (Monti, Examiner, 5/22).