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Emergency
and Environmental Health Services
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Safeguarding people's health from environmental threats...
Our mission at Emergency and Environmental Health Services (EEHS), a
division of CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, is to
provide national and international leadership for coordinating,
delivering, and evaluating emergency and environmental public health
services.
To improve public health practices nationwide, EEHS provides
consultation, training, and technical and resource assistance to state
and local health departments and to federal and international
agencies. EEHS...
- provides national leadership in the development of environmental
health policy and prevention programs to improve environmental public health
practice nationwide,
- provides resources and technical assistance on environmentally related
health issues, such as childhood lead poisoning,
- responds to national and international emergencies, and
- provides technical support for public health activities during famines,
civil strife, and other environmental threats.
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Environmental Public Health Services
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CDC provides scientific guidance and technical
assistance to state, local, tribal, and other government agencies engaged in environmental
public health service programs. EEHS...
- participates in disease outbreak investigations,
- identifies environmental signs contributing to outbreaks, and
- supports those environmental disciplines that involve food safety and water and
sanitation issues.
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Lead Poisoning Prevention
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Childhood lead
poisoning remains a major preventable environmental public
health problem in the United States. Approximately half a
million U.S. children younger than 6 years of age have blood
lead levels high enough to affect their intelligence, behavior,
and development. EEHS...
- works with other federal agencies to
develop an integrated national childhood lead poisoning
prevention program,
- helps develop and evaluate state and
community childhood lead poisoning prevention programs,
- maintains a system for collecting and sharing data on lead poisoning, and
- conducts and evaluates scientific research on childhood lead poisoning.
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Vessel Sanitation Program
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Some of the
larger cruise vessels have the capacity to carry as many as
5,000 passengers and crew. These passengers and crew not only
are at risk for illness from contaminated food and water but
also from viruses that are transmitted from person to person.
CDC established the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) in 1975 to
protect the health of cruise ship travelers and crew members. VSP...
- develops and puts sanitation programs into
practice and conducts sanitation seminars for crew members,
- inspects vessels to ensure compliance with
CDC's Recommended Ship Building Construction Guidelines for
Cruise Vessels Destined to Call on U.S. Ports,
- collects and monitors reports of diarrheal
illness to detect outbreaks on passenger vessels, and
- provides technical assistance on public health issues
related to vessel sanitation such as outbreaks.
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International Emergency and Refugee
Health
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The
International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch (IERHB)
coordinates CDC's response to complex humanitarian emergencies
and applies scientific and public health principles to the study
of these events. IERHB...
- provides technical assistance to various
federal agencies, the United Nations, and other organizations
concerned with the health of refugee populations;
- works closely with international partners
to identify the number and nature of landmine-related injuries
and deaths; and
- provides technical assistance and training
in public health emergency planning for employees, educational
institutions, and international organizations.
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Public Health Emergency Preparedness |
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The Emergency
Preparedness and Response Branch (EPRB) coordinates CDC’s
activities in assisting state and local health departments in
their emergency preparedness and response efforts to ensure
public health readiness. EPRB...
- integrates scientific principles into
public health guidance for emergency preparedness operations,
and
- identifies and shares best practices from
academic training and field operations for all-hazards
preparedness and response.
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CDC’s Chemical
Demilitarization Branch (CDB)
ensures that the health and safety of workers and the
general population are protected during the handling and
destruction of the nation's chemical weapons. CDB...
- reviews all chemical weapons elimination plans,
- works closely with the Department of Defense throughout the disposal process, and
- evaluates the medical response capacity of local communities to make sure that
responders are prepared for any related emergencies.
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Designing and Building Healthy Places
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As the leading
public health agency in the United States, CDC scientifically
considers all factors that affect the nation’s health. As we
progress further into the 21st century, the interaction between
people and their environments — natural as well as human-made —
continues to emerge as a major issue concerning public health.
Health issues that are related to community design and the built
environment are a concern of NCEH. The design and building of
healthy places work to enhance the quality of life and the
complete physical, mental, and social well-being of our people. |
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