Division of Global Health Protection (DGHP)

Responding to global outbreaks, natural disasters, and other emergencies when and where they occur is critical to stopping health threats before they reach U.S. shores. CDC’s Global Rapid Response Team (GRRT) is an agency-wide resource managed by DGHP with over 400 CDC experts ready to deploy in response to a public health emergency anywhere in the world at any given time. In 2017, the GRRT mobilized staff over 240 times to more than 50 countries to support outbreak response and to provide public health expertise, logging over 6,370 person-days of deployments in response to emergencies including Lassa fever in Nigeria, plague in Madagascar, and Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

To eliminate outbreaks at the source, DGHP trains “boots on the ground” disease detectives in other countries through the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP). This year, CDC-trained disease detectives investigated more than 570 threats across the globe. To expand detection and response capabilities at the local level, the FETP-Frontline program trained more than 1,800 new frontline responders who were among the first on the scene to identify and contain outbreaks of international concern like yellow fever, Ebola, and Marburg virus.

Strengthening Global Health Security

CDC advances global health security by building public health systems that work hand-in-hand to help countries prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats. DGHP leads the agency’s efforts to implement the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) in close partnership with other CDC divisions and centers, U.S. agencies, and global partners.

As of 2017, DGHP and its partners noted more than 675 significant achievements across CDC’s global health security partner countries, including expanded surveillance systems, new diagnostic equipment and capabilities, and more and better-trained frontline responders. Putting the right systems and people in place across the globe is our country’s best chance for stopping a future pandemic or bioterrorist event and for protecting our well-being.

CDC also works to strengthen global health security through prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors. NCDs (including cardiovascular disease and hypertension, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease) place additional strain on already fragile health systems and undermine their ability to handle large outbreaks. Building upon lessons learned from CDC’s communicable disease efforts, DGHP’s global NCD programs support critical partnerships, create healthier populations, and build more robust health systems that can help recognize potential epidemics early.

To bolster public health capacity at the national level, CDC is supporting 25 countries in developing or strengthening their national public health institutes (NPHIs). Like CDC in the United States, NPHIs serve as homes for countries’ public health systems and expertise. In 2017, CDC worked with partners to fully launch the NPHI Staged Development Tool that countries are using to define critical next steps for protection.

Global health security work is closely connected to U.S. economic security; health protection helps ensure stable markets and steady demand for U.S. goods and services. For example, a hypothetical model shows that an outbreak in Asia that spreads to 9 countries could put more than 1.6 million export-based U.S. jobs at risk, even if it never reaches American shores. Preventing and responding to outbreaks abroad protects these jobs in sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, and natural resource extraction.

Identifying Gaps and Setting Future Priorities

Finding and addressing gaps in the world’s health systems is critical to protecting America from epidemics. In 2017, DGHP worked closely with other CDC colleagues, the World Health Organization (WHO), and partners from other international organizations to help countries identify the most urgent needs within their health systems through the WHO Joint External Evaluation (JEE) process. Based on the requirements of the International Health Regulations, the JEE is a voluntary, multisectoral, and comprehensive process to assess a country’s capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to public health risks. As of December 2017, nearly 70 countries had completed JEEs, with CDC experts participating in over 60% of these.

CDC worked closely with partners in 2017 to conduct large-scale exercises that challenged countries’ abilities to efficiently and effectively coordinate an emergency response. These exercises tested the performance of public health emergency operations centers, real-time information sharing, laboratory capabilities, exchange among national public health institutes, and other critical systems that identify and contain disease outbreaks.