National Animal Health Laboratory Network Strategic Plan

The National Animal Health Laboratory Network Strategic Plan is a national sectoral plan of the United States of America. Its main vision is: The National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN): a network of animal disease diagnostic laboratories that works effectively as a team, provides ongoing disease surveillance, responds quickly to disease events, communicates diagnostic outcomes to decision makers in a timely manner, and has the capability and capacity to meet diagnostic needs during animal disease outbreaks.
The NAHLN is a nationally coordinated network and partnership of Federal, State, and university-associated animal health laboratories. NAHLN laboratories provide animal health diagnostic testing, methods research and development, and expertise for education and extension to detect biological threats to the nation’s animal agriculture, thus protecting animal health, public health, and the nation's food supply.
The NAHLN will maintain the capability and capacity to provide nationwide laboratory services in support of early detection and response to foreign animal disease outbreaks or other adverse animal health events; operate within a quality management system that meets American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17025, or equivalent standards; provide national diagnostic laboratory quality management system training; establish and maintain uniformly trained and competent animal disease diagnostic laboratory personnel; provide national animal disease diagnostic technical proficiency testing through the National Veterinary Laboratory Services (NVSL); use standardized protocols, reference materials, and equipment; support the development, validation, and deployment of critical animal disease diagnostic testing methods through research and data exchange; establish and implement secure, rapid electronic communications systems to optimize reporting, alert and epidemiological needs; use facilities that maximize biosafety, biosecurity and physical security requisite for testing performed; evaluate animal health emergency preparedness through scenario testing to identify and prioritize testing and communication gaps; assess the health and well-being of the country’s livestock population through active and passive diagnostic surveillance testing for exotic, emerging, and zoonotic diseases of animals; support the development of a system of “first detectors” through training of private veterinarians, extension educators, producers, and state and federal animal health officials; and continually assess the need for optimized and flexible network capacity.