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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 295. General provisions
(a) In general
The Secretary may award grants or contracts to eligible entities
to increase the number of individuals in the public health
workforce, to enhance the quality of such workforce, and to enhance
the ability of the workforce to meet national, State, and local
health care needs.
(b) Eligibility
To be eligible to receive a grant or contract under subsection
(a) of this section an entity shall -
(1) be -
(A) a health professions school, including an accredited
school or program of public health, health administration,
preventive medicine, or dental public health or a school
providing health management programs;
(B) an academic health center;
(C) a State or local government; or
(D) any other appropriate public or private nonprofit entity;
and
(2) prepare and submit to the Secretary an application at such
time, in such manner, and containing such information as the
Secretary may require.
(c) Preference
In awarding grants or contracts under this section the Secretary
may grant a preference to entities -
(1) serving individuals who are from disadvantaged backgrounds
(including underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities); and
(2) graduating large proportions of individuals who serve in
underserved communities.
(d) Activities
Amounts provided under a grant or contract awarded under this
section may be used for -
(1) the costs of planning, developing, or operating
demonstration training programs;
(2) faculty development;
(3) trainee support;
(4) technical assistance;
(5) to meet the costs of projects -
(A) to plan and develop new residency training programs and
to maintain or improve existing residency training programs in
preventive medicine and dental public health, that have
available full-time faculty members with training and
experience in the fields of preventive medicine and dental
public health; and
(B) to provide financial assistance to residency trainees
enrolled in such programs;
(6) the retraining of existing public health workers as well as
for increasing the supply of new practitioners to address
priority public health, preventive medicine, public health
dentistry, and health administration needs;
(7) preparing public health professionals for employment at the
State and community levels; or
(8) other activities that may produce outcomes that are
consistent with the purposes of this section.
(e) Traineeships
(1) In general
With respect to amounts used under this section for the
training of health professionals, such training programs shall be
designed to -
(A) make public health education more accessible to the
public and private health workforce;
(B) increase the relevance of public health academic
preparation to public health practice in the future;
(C) provide education or training for students from
traditional on-campus programs in practice-based sites; or
(D) develop educational methods and distance-based approaches
or technology that address adult learning requirements and
increase knowledge and skills related to community-based
cultural diversity in public health education.
(2) Severe shortage disciplines
Amounts provided under grants or contracts under this section
may be used for the operation of programs designed to award
traineeships to students in accredited schools of public health
who enter educational programs in fields where there is a severe
shortage of public health professionals, including epidemiology,
biostatistics, environmental health, toxicology, public health
nursing, nutrition, preventive medicine, maternal and child
health, and behavioral and mental health professions.
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