What to know
- Public health newborn screening is a system that identifies conditions that can affect a child's long-term health or survival. Early detection, diagnosis, and intervention can prevent death or disability and enable children to reach their full potential.
- Each year, millions of babies in the U.S. are routinely screened, using a few drops of blood from the newborn's heel, for certain genetic, endocrine, and metabolic disorders.
- Newborns are also tested for hearing loss and critical congenital heart defects (CCHDs) prior to discharge from a hospital or birthing center.
Private organizations
- American Sickle Cell Anemia Association
- Sickle Cell Disease Association of America
- Association of Public Health Laboratories
- Fatty Oxidation Disorder Family Support Group
- Genetic Alliance
- International Society for Neonatal Screening
- Jeffrey Modell Foundation
- March of Dimes
- National Coalition for PKU and Allied Disorders
- NewSTEPs
- National Urea Cycle Disorders Foundation
- Save Babies Through Screening