CDC aims for improved efficiency, increased support of science

Changes "aimed at increasing the agency's efficiency and making it more user-friendly" include combining "the work of the malaria branch, the epidemiology program and HIV/AIDS efforts" under the newly formed Center for Global Health, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Poole, 1/1). According to the Federal Register, where the changes were outlined, the CDC's Coordinating Center for Global Health will now be titled the Center for Global Health (12/28).

CDC Director Thomas Frieden said the changes are an effort to achieve goals that he outlined when he was first appointed to lead CDC, including the expansion of global health initiatives, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Frieden said, "The bottom line really is to focus on strengthening and supporting science. We want to make the science timely, relevant and accessible to people." He added, "The single most important thing public health can do is to increase the degree to which decisions are made with good data."

According to the newspaper, "No reduction in work force is associated with the reorganization of the agency, which employs about 10,000 full-time staffers and as many as 6,000 contractors" (1/1).