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Public Health

From preventing and treating HIV/AIDS to reducing the harm associated with tobacco products and its use, Congressman Towns has a lifelong commitment to strengthening our public health system. As a former administrator at Beth Israel Medical Center, Towns believes that hospitals and public health departments serve as the glue that holds together our public health system.

Congressman Towns has supported the following Public Health initiatives in the 111th Congress:

H.R. 805, the Strengthening America's Public Health System Act. This bill would provide for the establishment of the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity Grant Program to assist public health agencies in improving surveillance for, and response to, infectious diseases and other conditions of public health importance and provide for the expansion of applied epidemiology training programs.

H.R. 1296, the Access for All America Act, which amends the Public Health Service Act to increase and extend the authorization of appropriations for community health centers.

H.R. 916, the Preventive Medicine and Public Health Training Act, to allow for the Centers for Disease Control to issue grants or contract with certain eligible entities to provide training to graduate medical residents in preventive medicine specialties.

H.R. 1179, the Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Prevention, Education, and Research Act of 2009, to provide for the establishment of a Tick-Borne Diseases Advisory Committee to ensure interagency, private organizations, and constituency group coordination, communication and to minimize overlap regarding efforts to address tick-borne diseases.

H.R. 1256, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which passed both the House and the Senate, and was signed into law in on June 22, 2009. It requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to require that advertising and labeling concerning modified risk tobacco products enable the public to understand the information and its significance in the context of total health and in relation to all of the diseases and health-related conditions associated with the use of tobacco products.

H.R. 1964, the National Black Clergy for the Elimination of HIV/AIDS Act of 2009, makes grants available to public health agencies and faith-based organizations to conduct HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, and related outreach activities to reduce HIV/AIDS in the African-American community.

H.R. 2137, the Routine HIV Screening Coverage Act of 2009 to require individual and group health insurance coverage and group health plans and Federal employees’ health benefit plans to provide coverage for routine HIV screening.

H.R.179, Community AIDS and Hepatitis Prevention Act, allows the use of federal funds to establish or carry out a program distributing sterile syringes to reduce the transmission of blood borne pathogens, including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and viral hepatitis.