The Prevention and Public Health Fund: Preventing Disease and Reducing Long-Term Health Costs Right now, communities across the country face serious, ongoing and costly health problems. Americans face

have a chronic disease, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and chronic diseases are the leading causes of death and disability and the leading drivers of the nation’s healthcare costs. [...] The Prevention and Public Health Fund (the Fund, or PPHF) is a critical investment in prevention and public health, and by statute, is meant “to provide for expanded and sustained national investment in prevention and public health programs to improve health and help restrain the rate of growth in private and public sector health care costs.” The Fund is vital in supporting public health services. [...] The Fund was created to reduce health care costs and improve health and, to date, has invested more than $12.3 billion to enable communities in every state and territory to invest in effective, proven public health and prevention efforts. [...] $40 million to build epidemiology and laboratory capacity: The Fund supports cross-cutting epidemiology and laboratory capacity that enables state and local health officials to detect and respond to emergencies that put residents’ lives and health at stake – including natural disasters, terrorist attacks, infectious disease outbreaks, and unsafe food, air and water. [...] $12 million to prevent healthcare associated infections: The grants support states to conduct surveillance, outbreak investigations, and laboratory research and to make improvements in clinical practice, medical procedures, and the ongoing development of evidence-based infection control guidance and prevention.