These Guidelines were developed by staff from the various divisions in CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) in consultation with state and local public health leaders and public health organizations.

Publication of this document is a milestone in bringing together under one set of guidelines the security and confidentiality of all of our focus diseases. This guidance replaces any disease-specific security and confidentiality guidelines published previously.

Adoption of common practices for securing and protecting data will provide a critical foundation and be increasingly important for ensuring the appropriate sharing and use of data as programs begin to modify policies and increasingly use data for public health action.

Use of these Guidelines promises to enhance successful collaborations, increase completeness of key data elements, improve the possibility of collaborative analyses, and enhance program efficiencies. All of which will increase our impact through data use.

Technical assistance and funding, to the extent possible, is available to assist programs in meeting the standards. Supplemental funding has already been awarded and training and a webinar are planned for 2012. As well, supplemental documents to assist in your understanding of the new data security and confidentiality standards will be added to the Program Collaboration and Service Integration Web site as they are developed, so please check back.