Moving Forward with Prevention

I know that I have not written in a while, but I am energized to have this continuing opportunity to put down some thoughts on our health protection priorities and goals, as well as showcase our prevention achievements. The beginning of 2009 has been very busy with the presidential inauguration, the transition to a new administration, and most recently, the ongoing work on the national economic stimulus package. This gives us much to consider as 2009 begins to take shape—and prompts me to reflect on the year past. There is perhaps no better way to do the latter than through the 2008 NCHHSTP Annual Report, which was released today!

This report provides a window to the work done by this center throughout the country and across the globe, and is an integral part of our commitment to transparency and accountability. Equally important is our effort to ensure participation and collaboration on all levels to reach even the most hard-to-reach populations with prevention and care messages. We must also continue to ensure our strategies and our investments are innovative and impactful.

Last year yielded marked achievements that are highlighted in the 2008 annual report. Through our continued commitment to our surveillance and program work to reach more people in more places with life-saving prevention efforts, we were able to

• Report the lowest levels ever recorded for new diagnoses and rates of TB.
• Report new estimates of HIV incidence attained through the use of breakthrough technology developed by CDC researchers.
• Expand hepatitis B vaccination programs, which have brought continued declines in acute hepatitis B infections.
• Continue our advancements in tracking hepatitis C infection.
• Begin new efforts to mobilize communities to reduce HIV, STD, TB, and hepatitis health disparities and promote greater health equity.
• Release, in collaboration with the National Coalition of STD Directors, the National Guidelines for Internet-based STD and HIV Prevention to provide tools and best practices for using the Internet to share prevention and control messages.
• Provide new program and funding opportunity announcements.
• Establish new prevention programs that are collaborative and integrate services for more than one of the diseases in our portfolio.

This work is developed in alignment with CDC’s goals, our centers strategic imperatives, our commitment to program collaboration and integration, our ongoing charge to reduce health disparities, and our growing involvement in global public health.

Our new administration is committed to the ideals that trust must be earned and work must be done in an open and participatory environment. We stand by that commitment as we begin to refocus on the basics of prevention, not just as the framework for government, but as a framework for those we serve. And today, especially, with the current economic downturn, it is critical that we articulate the case for prevention and health protection clearly and cogently within and among our organizations and within our neighborhoods, communities, and homes. Health is as much an individual effort as a group effort, a medical effort as a social effort, and an outcome of research and communication on so many levels. Even in these difficult economic times, health does not have to follow a downward slope. Through collaboration and communication we will continue to work with our partners and affected communities to ensure objectives are met.

This year perhaps more than others, we must make a conscious effort to pay attention to our achievements as well as our mistakes, to hold ourselves accountable and to communicate better with each other. I hope that this blog continues to open the lines of communication and that you will join with me as we move forward. I know I look forward to the many achievements yet to come.

 
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