• Newborn Screening
  CDC’s newborn screening program is one of the largest disease prevention programs in the United States with approximately 4 million babies tested each year.
   
• Research
  CDC has conducted research to understand more about sickle cell disease. For a list of publications, click here.
   
• Sickle Cell Disease Working Group
  CDC recently initiated an agency-wide sickle cell disease working group to explore potential opportunities, address unmet needs in research, surveillance, and health education, and unite the efforts and energies of those in the agency working on this disease.

  The overall goals of the working group are to:

  • Provide information and increase awareness about the sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait at CDC, and among external audiences such as health care providers, community organizations, affected patients and their families, and the general public.
  • Increase dialogue and collaboration between CDC and key partners in the sickle cell community, including other federal partners like the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
  • Increase research and surveillance to determine prevalence, develop better management guidelines, and more effectively monitor complications of the disease.

Although the sickle cell disease working group is still in its infancy, there are several dedicated CDC staff working to make sickle cell disease a priority in the agency. CDC working group participants include staff from the following centers and offices:

• Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness & Emergency Response
• National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
• National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
• National Center for Environmental Health
• National Center for Health Statistics
• National Center for Health Marketing
• National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention
• National Center for Preparedness, Detection and Control of Infectious Diseases
• National Center for Public Health Informatics
• National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases
• National Office of Public Health Genomics
• Office of the Chief Operating Officer
• Office of the Chief of Public Health Practice
• Office of Enterprise Communications
• Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities

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