CDC Promotes Health through Strong Partnerships

Throughout its history, CDC has placed a premium value on developing and nurturing partnerships with various public and private entities. These partnerships improve and expand the scope and depth of public health services for the American people. One key focus of CDC's Futures Initiative was to bolster the agency's ability to engage and support its partners. The new Coordinating Center for Health Information and Service (CoCHIS) was created to improve public health through increased efficiencies, foster stronger collaboration, and integrate similar programs and messages.

CDC's numerous partners in conducting effective prevention, control, research, and communication activities include

• public health associations;
• state and local public health departments;
• federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and first-responders such as firefighters and rescue workers
• practicing health professionals, including physicians, dentists, nurses, and veterinarians;
• schools and universities;
• communities of faith;
• community, professional, and philanthropic organizations;
• nonprofit and voluntary organizations;
• business, labor, and industry;
• the CDC Foundation and other foundations; and
• international health organizations

The everyday world provides a series of obstacles to continued good health: pollution and congestion in the air we breathe; contamination in our water supply; unsafe conditions in our daily workplaces. CDC works side by side with national, state and local organizations to help protect communities from dangerous environmental exposures. We may feel secure in our own health. But regardless of how vigilant we might be, the fact remains: in every town, in every community, and in every family, we are vulnerable to hazards in our environment, in our workplace, and even in our home.

CDC alone cannot protect the health of the American people. However, by engaging with others – from state and local health departments to private corporations, from media outlets to the general public – we can achieve our vision of a better world, with safer, healthier people.