Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

History and Organization

The CDC was created in 1946 by Dr. Joseph Mountin in Atlanta, Georgia, as the Communicable Disease Center, a tiny division of the National Health Department. During its early years, it focused on the control of infectious diseases, also called communicable diseases, especially malaria vector control. In 1970, it changed its original name of Communicable Disease Center to its current name, at the same time widening its range of functions and fields of intervention. The CDC's staff, projects, partners, and health-related interventions have expanded enormously since then, covering many relevant and immediate health matters. Among its many branches are the Chronic Disease Office, Infectious Disease Office, Public Health Preparedness and Response Office, Environmental Health Center, Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory services. The CDC director in 2010 was Dr. Thomas R. Frieden.

Terrorism, Emergency Response, and Aid

Within the CDC, two main bodies deal with disaster relief. The main purpose of the Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response is to coordinate and support CDC activities related to disasters and emergency preparedness. The office focuses primarily on the United States, although it has actively participated in relief efforts following the 2008 southeast Asia tsunami and Haiti's 2010 earthquake. It is funded directly by the United States. Within this office, the CDC Emergencies Operations Center is the core alert unit for emergencies at the national and international level.

The other main body of disaster relief is the International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch (IERHB), which falls under Emergency and Environmental Health Services at the National Center for Environmental Health. Its mission is to “implement and coordinate CDC's response to complex humanitarian emergencies, as requested by the U.S. government, United Nations agencies, and nongovernmental organizations.” It aims to improve population health in adverse situations such as war, famine, civil strife, disaster, genocide, drought, and displacement. Two technical bodies belong to the IERHB: The Complex Humanitarian Emergency Team and the War-Related Injury Team.

The support that CDC provides in the international arena is mainly technical. This means that they do not have a leading role in the field, but rather provide advisory and scientific support. This results in a series of calculated interventions designed to provide support to the requesting agency. One of the first interventions by the CDC is rapid assessment and monitoring upon the emergence of a crisis. The agency counts on experts in disaster epidemiology in order to provide the most efficient tools in very little time. Making decisions in the early stages is considered crucial to alleviate the consequences [Page 56]of a disaster. Investigations on emergency preparedness, disease prevention and control, and evaluation of implemented measures are usually conducted. In addition, both the IERHB and Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (COTPER) are prolific research bodies in different health-related interventions, which are later disseminated and implemented when a disaster takes place. These bodies also develop guidelines on public health issues and strategies regarding technical approaches in different stages of a disaster. The CDC also designs and implements training activities related to public health interventions in order to improve and maximize the disaster response. This leads to capacity enhancement of countries and other responsible agencies involved in the management of a disaster.

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