A NEW STRATEGY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH SURVEILLANCE AT CDC: IMPROVING NATIONAL SURVEILLANCE ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES

Public health surveillance is the cornerstone of public health practice and can be defined as the systematic, ongoing collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data followed by the dissemination of these data to public health programs to stimulate public health action. Stakeholders in the US at all levels of government (ie, federal and state, territorial, local, and tribal), in academia and industry, and the general public rely on high-quality, timely surveillance data to detect and monitor diseases, injuries, and conditions; assess the impact of interventions; and assist in the management of large-scale disease incidents. Surveillance data are crucially important to inform policy changes, guide new program interventions, sharpen public communications, and help agencies assess research investments. Here, Richards et al discuss new strategy for public health surveillance at CDC to improve national surveillance activities and outcomes.