Protecting the nation’s public health demands data, whether it be new measles cases, a surge in ER visits, or shifting patterns in obesity. The most recent job cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention threaten the mostly unseen foundation of that research enterprise.
The CDC division within the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) that directs the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) — a bellwether of the country’s health — lost all its planners in last weekend’s firings. Unlike the 600 out of 1,300 employees eliminated across disciplines but reinstated within 24 hours, the people in the branch that plans and disseminates the research informing public health policies from food to oral health to environmental exposures got no reprieve.
