| Vision
for the Future |
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This document defines CDC’s global infectious disease priorities in
six areas, keeping in mind the intimate relationship between international
and U.S. health, selected in consultation with global public health partners.
In looking towards the future, CDC envisions increased activity and progress
in each area:
1. International Outbreak Assistance.
CDC will maintain the capacity to identify and investigate a broad
spectrum of human diseases and serve as an internationally recognized
resource that helps maintain global awareness of new and emerging threats.
2. A Global Approach to Disease Surveillance.
Regional and disease-specific surveillance and response networks will
increase in number and geographical area until they cover all parts of
the world and monitor all infectious diseases of regional or global importance.
The networks will link up with each other and evolve into a global “network
of networks” that provides early warning of new health threats—including
drug-resistant diseases—and increased capacity to monitor the effectiveness
of public health control measures.
3. Applied Research on Diseases of Global Importance.
CDC’s laboratorians, epidemiologists, and behavioral scientists
will maintain an active research program to develop tools to detect, diagnose,
predict, and eliminate infectious diseases of global or regional importance.
When a new disease threat is reported anywhere in the world, CDC’s
laboratorians and field investigators will be available to help answer
questions about disease transmission, treatment, control, and prevention.
4. Application of Proven Public Health Tools.
The worldwide burden of infectious diseases will be significantly
reduced as currently available tools with documented efficacy are rapidly
disseminated to the most severely affected populations. Research discoveries
will be translated into practical treatments, vaccines, diagnostic tests,
and disease prevention strategies that are ready for use by ministries
of health and public health agencies. CDC’s resources will be effectively
marshaled to assist its partners in applying these tools in many countries,
saving millions of lives.
5. Global Initiatives for Disease Control.
Sustained global efforts will reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in
young people by 25% and reduce deaths from TB and malaria by 50% by 2010.
Infant mortality will be reduced in the poorest countries through enhanced
delivery and use of vaccines against respiratory illnesses and other childhood
diseases. Polio and dracunculiasis will be eradicated worldwide, paving
the way for future efforts to eliminate such diseases as measles, lymphatic
filariasis, onchocerchiasis, Chagas disease, trachoma, rubella, and hepatitis
B.
6. Public Health Training and Capacity Building.
An interconnected group of International Emerging Infectious Disease
Programs (IEIPs) will integrate disease surveillance, laboratory studies,
and prevention activities, and provide hands-on public health training
in disease detection, program management, and outbreak investigation.
The IEIP sites will partner with Field Epidemiology Training Programs
(FETPs) and other institutions to perform population-based research on
transmission of endemic and emerging diseases and conduct emergency surveillance
whenever a new threat appears. The long term goal of the IEIPs will be
to develop sustainable, in-country human capacity to participate in national
and regional efforts for disease surveillance and outbreak response.
Implementation of specific objectives in these six areas will help realize
CDC’s vision of a world in which U.S. citizens and all people everywhere
are better protected from infectious diseases. Previous
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