The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch (AFHSB) plays a critical role in force health protection. As the central epidemiologic resource for the U.S. Armed Forces, AFHSB conducts medical surveillance to protect all those who serve our nation in uniform and allies who are critical to our national security interests.
Vision
To be the central, integrated, customer-focused epidemiologic and global health surveillance proponent for the U.S. Armed Forces
Mission
Provide timely, relevant, actionable, and comprehensive health surveillance information to promote, maintain, and enhance the health of military and military-associated populations
- Acquire, analyze/interpret, disseminate information, and recommend evidence-based policy
- Develop, refine, and improve standardized surveillance methods
- Serve as focal point for sharing health surveillance products, expertise, and information
- Coordinate a global program of militarily relevant infectious disease surveillance
Service Liaisons
The AFHSB has military service and federal liaison officers on staff who can negotiate requests for information or analysis. There are liaisons from each of the Department of Defense (DoD) Armed Services—U.S. Army, U.S. Navy (covers requests from Coast Guard and Marine Corps), and U.S. Air Force—the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security. The liaison officers assist their respective Services’ public health authorities and commanders in accessing health surveillance information and coordinate requests from their respective Services and present them at Request Assessment Process (RAP) meetings.
At the RAP meetings, senior epidemiologists, Preventive Medicine physicians and key scientific advisors review the methodology and feasibility of each request. Once the RAP approves a request, the title and project log are entered into a privacy-protected computer tracking system. Analysts within the E&A division write the computer code to generate the data analysis and provide results in the form of summary tables or limited de-identified data sets. After careful review, the results are sent to the requestor.
To contact Service Liaisons, please call 1-301-319-3240.
Medical Surveillance Monthly Report
The Medical Surveillance Monthly Report (MSMR), a peer-reviewed journal launched in 1995, is the AFHSB's flagship publication. The MSMR provides monthly evidence-based estimates of the incidence, distribution, impact, and trends of health-related conditions among service members. Additionally, the MSMR focuses one issue per year on the absolute and relative morbidity burden attributable to various illnesses and injuries among service members and beneficiaries.
>>View All AFHSB Reports and Publications