Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a health agency designed to protect the United States from current and potential diseases. According to CDC, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was founded July 1, 1946 occupying a one floor small building in Atlanta, Georgia. There were only seven medical officers on staff and fewer than 400 employees. One of its very first missions was to prevent malaria from turning into an epidemic. With a budget of $10 million dollars, this organization made sure they had enough sprayers, vehicles, and shovels to battle the mosquitoes. In 1947, CDC gave Emory University $10 in exchange for 15 acres of land in Atlanta, which now serves as CDC headquarters.

As of today the mission for CDC is to work around the clock to protect America from health, safety, and security threats, both foreign and in the United States. The CDC increases the health security of our nation by saving lives and protecting people from health threats. Their goals are to improve health security at home and around the world, better prevent the leading causes of illness, injury, disability, and death, and strengthen public health and health care collaboration. The Centers for Disease Control and prevention works to improve health security around the world and at home, improve to prevent the leading causes of illness, injury, disability, and death, and strengthen public health and health care collaboration.

There are a lot of accomplishments that the CDC has accomplished over the past few years. This agency has helped states enforce seatbelt laws, child safety seat legislations, ignition interlocking systems, and safer licensing for younger drivers. The parents are the key campaign was created to provide tools and steps to reduce teen driving injuries and deaths, there are healthier food choices at schools, Hepatitis C testing is now mandatory for Americans born 1945-1965, and the CDC Lab was the first to identify and report the H1N1 virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is organized into different offices, institutes, and centers. The officials that are in charge of the certain offices are based on their fields of expertise. The director of the CDC is currently Thomas R Frieden, MD, MPH. He has been with this agency since 1990 working as an EIS officer disease detective conducting epidemiology investigations. As of June 2009 Frieden was granted the position of CDC director tackling H1N1 virus pandemic as his first task. The current Principal Deputy Director is Ileana Arias, PhD. Her job is overseeing the organizational improvement activities and advising the director in the executive responsibilities of shaping policies and plans for CDC. There are over 20 other officers and centers that are under these two directors for this agency.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awards their grants and gives them to state and local governments, foreign ministers and associations, domestic non-profit, and domestic for profit groups. Each year the CDC awards approximately 4,200 grants and cooperative agreements, which is $5.0 billion in federal funds. According to CDC, grants are assistance mechanism used when there is no demonstrated need for substantial agency involvement beyond normal oversight and monitoring activities. Cooperative agreements are assistance mechanism used when there is substantial agency involvement beyond normal oversight and monitoring activities. They use grants and cooperative agreements to properly fund public health programs that boost the agency’s public health mission domestically and abroad to keep Americans safe and healthy where they work, live and play. According to CDC, this agency funds research and non-research grants and cooperative agreements. A research grant or cooperative agreement provides funding to support investigatory projects to be performed by certain organizations within their areas of expertise. A non-research grant or cooperative agreement provides funding to support the agency’s programmatic needs (prevention projects and programs for vaccines).

Everyone in America benefits from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; public health in action keeps our food and water supply safe, contains outbreaks of infectious diseases, informs policy-making and helps remove disparities in access to healthcare (CDC Foundation). The CDC is responsible for detecting health threats, fixing health problems that causes mortality within the US, promoting safe health behaviors, fighting diseases, helping medical care, and saving lives.

Being in a professional organization is very important due to pursuing jobs, having professional development, and networking. The current organization that you are apart of helps you to become employed and helps you to build a resume. Professional Development is offered through workshops, courses, confidential information within your company, and publications. Networking is also important because professional organizations hold annual conferences where you get to know people that are within your field. There are so many advantages when it comes to networking, everyone should take advantage when the opportunity is presented to them.

References

Anderson, L. (2011, June 16). 5 Reasons Professional Organizations are Worth Joining.

Retrieved April 29, 2015, from http://college.monster.com/training/articles/2131-5-reasons-professional-organizations-are-worth-joining

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2015, from

http://www.cdc.gov/

Who Benefits? (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2015, from

http://www.cdcfoundation.org/why/success