The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recognized as the lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people - at home and abroad, roviding credible information to enhance health decisions, and romoting health through strong partnerships. CDC serves as the national focus for developing and applying disease revention and control, environmental health, and health promotion and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States.
CDC, located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Julie L. Gerberding is the Director.
Infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, have the ability to destroy lives, strain community resources, and even threaten nations. In today's global environment, new diseases have the potential to spread across the world in a matter of days, or even hours, making early detection and action more important than ever. CDC plays a critical role in controlling these diseases, traveling at a moment's notice to investigate outbreaks abroad or at home.
But disease outbreaks are only the beginning of our protective role. By assisting state and local health departments, CDC works to protect the public every day: from using innovative "fingerprinting" technology to identify a foodborne illness, to evaluating a family violence prevention program in an urban community; from training partners in HIV education, to protecting children from vaccine preventable diseases through immunizations.
