Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Communicable Disease Center moved to its current headquarters in 1960. Building 1 is pictured in 1963.
CDC Building 17 in Atlanta, Georgia, as seen from Emory University
Donald Henderson as part of the CDC's smallpox eradication team in 1966
CDC and MSF staff preparing to enter an Ebola treatment unit in Liberia, August 2014
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the determinants of health of a population and the threats it faces is the basis for public health. The public can be as small as a handful of people or as large as a village or an entire city; in the case of a pandemic it may encompass several continents. The concept of health takes into account physical, psychological, and social well-being.
A community health worker in Korail Basti, a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh
The WHO is the predominant agency associated with global health.
Newspaper headlines from around the world about polio vaccine tests (13 April 1955)
A Public Health Prayer - Dr Edmond Fernandes