CDC's Role in Global Health Security

Multiple Roles

As the nation’s premier public health agency, CDC has multiple roles in shaping and executing the global health agenda:

• Coordination: CDC works closely with other parts of the U.S. government and partner nations to help achieve the goal of preventing avoidable epidemics, detecting threats early, and rapidly and effectively responding.
• Technical support: CDC helps partner nations meet global health security goals to prevent, detect, and respond by leveraging existing investments and relationships in global health.

Leveraging Existing Programs

CDC has historic and successful public health programs that align with global health security, including those programs addressing

• global disease detection,
• global influenza,
• vaccine-preventable diseases,
• refugee and border health, and
• training of epidemiologists and others who provide surveillance and investigate disease outbreaks.

Expertise

CDC also has unique and unmatched expertise in

• identifying, developing and validating new tools for disease detection and control;
• applied research on infection control strategies (including antimicrobial resistance and animal-human-environment interface);
• managing public health emergencies;
• laboratory strengthening and improved tools for diagnosing disease; and
• disease monitoring, such as for cholera, hemorrhagic fevers, influenza, and rabies.

Experience With Large Public Health Programs

Finally, CDC has a long history with large, successful public health programs such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative, Global Disease Detection Centers (GDD), the Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETP), the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), and other disease-specific programs. These gold standards in public health have been widely embraced and adopted by other nations, broadening the health security net by developing technical skills, increasing laboratories, and connecting information systems to improve decision-making and prevent, detect, and respond to diseases more effectively.