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CDC awards more than $75 million to state, local health departments
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The CDC has awarded about $75.8 million to help states strengthen the epidemiology and laboratory capacity necessary to track and respond to infectious diseases, according to an agency press release.
The funding will be through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement (ELC). Fifty state health departments, six local health departments (Los Angeles County, Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, Houston and District of Columbia) and eight territories or US affiliates will receive funds.
Beth P. Bell
“CDC funding provided through the ELC platform is essential to strengthening national infectious disease infrastructure,” Beth P. Bell, MD, MPH, director of CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, said in a press release. “With many infectious diseases first identified at the local level, this funding ensures that state health departments are able to effectively prevent, detect and respond to such public health threats.”
Source: CDC
The funding will help pay for more than 1,000 full-time and part-time jobs at health departments, including epidemiologists, laboratorians and health information systems staff. The funding will support surveillance, detection and outbreak response efforts, providing officials with improved tools to respond to more outbreaks, conduct faster surveillance and prevent illnesses and deaths.
Many infectious disease areas will be covered, including zoonotic and vector-borne diseases, foodborne diseases, influenza and health care–associated infections. In addition, the funding will allow health departments to identify and respond to new and emerging infectious diseases, including Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and monkeypox.