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![handle is hein.crs/govejfv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Sc
Informing helegisIltive d ba e s'no 1914
October 28, 2022
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic, the monkeypox outbreak, and other recent health
crises, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) has served as a face of the federal government's
public health response. CDC's stated mission is protect
America from health, safety and security threats, both
foreign and in the [United States]. CDC's mission extends
beyond addressing infectious diseases-to preventing most
of the leading causes of death, injury, and disability, along
with promoting health more generally. CDC is based in the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is a
U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) agency.
Organization and Programs
Two features characterize CDC's mission and programs.
First, CDC programs tend to focus on prevention of adverse
health outcomes, rather than treatment or clinical care after
a health issue arises. Second, CDC programs promote
health on a population and community-wide basis. CDC is
organized into several centers, institutes, and offices
(CIOs). Some of these CIOs focus on specific public health
challenges (e.g., immunization and respiratory diseases;
injury prevention), while others focus on public health
capabilities (e.g., surveillance and laboratory services).
Activities
CDC CIOs administer public health programs focused on a
wide array of health topics, including infectious diseases,
noninfectious diseases, injury, disability, occupational
health, environmental health, and public health emergency
preparedness and response. Even with the wide range of
topics, a few key activities are common across CDC
programs:
Technical Assistance to and Coordination with State,
Local, Territorial, and Tribal (SLTT) Public Health
Agencies. In the U.S. federalist system, many public health
laws and programs are administered at the SLTT level.
CDC provides leadership and coordination among public
health agencies across the country. CDC also administers
several fellowship and workforce programs to fund staff at
SLTT agencies. CDC staff may also take temporary
placement positions within SLTT agencies to provide
support.
Public Health Program Grants. CDC administers many
public health program grants. Some grants, such as the
Immunization Cooperative Agreement program and the
Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant
program, provide public health funding to all states,
territories, and selected local jurisdictions. Others provide
funding on a competitive basis to a subset of SLTT
agencies or to nonprofit or other private organizations. In
FY2019, CDC awarded 5,010 grants totaling over $5.9
billion in obligations (including research and program
grants). Grant recipients included SLTT governments,
nonprofit organizations, foreign governments and
organizations, for-profit organizations, and tribal entities.
The majority of the grants were awarded to government
entities (66%), and state government agencies accounted for
92% of such grants. Grants to SLTT governments generally
fund the programs and operations of SLTT public health
agencies. CDC administers many of its grant programs with
SLTT agencies as cooperative agreement programs, where
CDC staff have substantial involvement with the grantee in
program implementation. (Note: CRS used FY2019 data,
instead of more recent FY2020 and FY2021 data, because
the latter include substantial pandemic supplemental
funding and therefore are not reflective of typical grant
making practices.)
Surveillance. Public health surveillance is the ongoing,
systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health-
related data essential to planning, implementation, and
evaluation of public health practice. CDC operates over
100 surveillance systems that collect ongoing data, which
typically do not include personally identifiable information.
Much of the data are collected at the SLTT level, and many
CDC grants support surveillance. These data help inform an
understanding of when, how, where, and to whom disease
cases and other health events occur.
Laboratory Science. CDC manages federal laboratories
that can perform specialized testing to detect new or
unusual diseases. CDC also oversees the Laboratory
Response Network (LRN)-a network of laboratories at the
federal, state, and local level that can detect biological,
chemical, and other threats, including emerging infectious
diseases. CDC develops laboratory test kits, protocols, and
best practices, and distributes test kits and supplies to LRN
laboratories. Several program grants can also support public
health laboratory operations and testing.
Surveys and Statistics. CDC also administers several
national health surveys, like the National Health Interview
Survey. CDC's National Center for Health Statistics is one
of 12 principal federal statistical agencies (or units).
Research. CDC employs researchers who inform the
science of disease prevention and health promotion. CDC
experts include epidemiologists, statisticians, laboratory
scientists, and infectious disease biologists, among others.
Many CDC research publications are published in the
agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC also
awards some research grants and contracts to universities
and other research institutions.
Education and Outreach. CDC conducts education and
outreach to many audiences, including the general public,
health care providers, and public health practitioners,
among others. CDC also regularly develops educational
materials for SLTT agencies and health care providers. In](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govejfv0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)