CDC’s Global Health Work

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mission to protect Americans from health threats includes collaboration with other U.S government agencies and international partners. CDC is the U.S. government lead agency for infectious disease outbreak preparedness and response activities. CDC has a programmatic presence both in the United States and overseas. Translating knowledge and experience across domestic and global health efforts is critical to effectively detecting, responding to, and stopping epidemic threats. The goal of CDC’s global health work is to improve health outcomes and strengthen global health security by building the capacity of partner countries to detect diseases and respond to and stop health threats.

In an increasingly interconnected world, infectious outbreaks like measles, Ebola, Zika, polio, cholera, typhoid, and COVID-19 can become widespread regional and global threats. CDC experts and international CDC-trained public health responders support the U.S. mission to safeguard Americans at home and abroad. CDC’s technical expertise supports global outbreak responses, building on relationships forged through decades of global health engagement addressing leading causes of death. As part of the Global Health Security Agenda, CDC takes a lead technical role for developing public health workforce, surveillance, laboratory, and emergency response capacities globally. Through these and other initiatives, CDC builds capacities needed to respond to existing disease outbreaks and prepare for future threats. CDC’s forward-deployed staff are America’s first line of defense to protect Americans’ health when infectious disease outbreaks erupt around the world.