CDC Releases Report on Strategic Improvements to Surveillance

Surveillance-Series-Bookleth.pdf

CDC Releases Report on 
Strategic Improvements to Surveillance

Improving and Protecting the Health of Our Nation

As part of a strategy to improve public health surveillance data, CDC is releasing a new report, Public Health Surveillance: Preparing for the Future.

This report gives an in-depth look at the initiatives, innovation, and partnerships that took place under CDC’s Surveillance Strategy from 2014 to today. Contents include a summary of the strategy, a timeline of progress, a look at specific strategic initiatives, a pulse-check of ongoing improvements, and a vision for the future. You can view the report either as a PDF or online as part of our new updated, more comprehensive Public Health Surveillance and Data website.

Collecting data, connecting data, and using data to inform action is, without a doubt, one of the most foundational activities of public health. It is certainly an important tool in our mission here at CDC to help people live healthier lives. As this report highlights, our efforts over the last few years to improve public health surveillance and data have moved the organization forward and built essential trust.

5 Important Lessons from This Report:

• Improving foundational systems, such as those in place for mortality and syndromic surveillance, serves the entire agency. Their data address both every day and emergency public health issues, including the opioid crisis, suicide, influenza, and more.
• Improving how data flows between public health and health care is critical to making health data more useful.
• Technical innovation, data exchange , and IT modernization should be enterprise-wide and adaptable for different programs.
• Data science skills are critical in the public health workforce if we are to capitalize on new data opportunities.
• Given the proliferation of data systems, health information technologies, informatics, and workforce needs, we must be open to new ideas, new partnerships, and a new way of doing business.

Our biggest lesson is that the work is not done. For this momentum to continue, we are updating our surveillance strategy to encompass both public health data and IT modernization. As we do this, I believe we can apply what we’ve learned to a future that is already upon us.

It is my hope that together, we commit to doing much more to improve what we can, where we can, and do so on a continual basis. We can’t afford not to. 

Chesley Richards, MD, MPH, FACP
CDC Deputy Director for Public Health Science and Surveillance (proposed)

Additional information and materials are found on our Public Health Data and Surveillance website, which includes a portal for ongoing projects to improve data collection and sharing, as well as blogs and stories that make technical information easier to connect with

Our understanding of the public’s health is only as good as the #data we have, and CDC works around the clock to get the right information into the right hands at the right time. Read more about our strategic plan to improve #publichealth #surveillance atgo.usa.gov/xPxcU