The recent downsizing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) injury prevention center has sparked significant concern among public health experts and advocates. In comparison, the CDC, which was created in the early 1990s, had over $700 million in funding just last year. It has been the engine behind successful injury prevention campaigns that have advanced the adoption of critical public health interventions ranging from better vehicle design, smoke detectors, and bicycle helmets.
Appropriately enough, the Safe States Alliance is a nonprofit organization that works hand in glove with the CDC and state health departments. In their article, they note that the injury center has cut more than 200 jobs. This cut undermines the agency’s mission to address growing and critical public health issues. It threatens the broad surveillance systems public health has worked to build over the last 50 years.
As Dr. Mark Rosenberg, the first director of the CDC’s injury center, cautioned us, “This loss will have tragic effects.” “These are our kids who are being shot, our kids who are drowning, our kids who are being abused and neglected,” he stated, emphasizing the critical nature of the work performed by the injury center. We applaud the CDC for taking a proactive approach to injury prevention. It treats injuries as public health challenges in need of evidence-based solutions, rather than as unavoidable accidents.
Steeped in the fervor of de-federalization, the Trump administration has widely proclaimed its aim to downsize and refashion federal health agencies. Since this move, experts have sounded the alarm. They argue that such cuts jeopardize decades of advancements made in research and, as a result, the prevention of injuries. Christen Rexing, a representative from SAVIR, an injury and violence prevention nonprofit, expressed her concerns over the implications of these cuts. “One of my concerns is we will not have this comprehensive surveillance system,” she noted.
The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) has admitted dependance on contractors to code thousands of emergency room records. They classify injuries according to their cause, from motor vehicle crashes to dog attacks. Now, this essential shared system is under threat. The CPSC will continue to gather emergency room data for product-related injuries. It will cease collecting a more comprehensive array of data due to staffing reductions at the CDC.
Removal of whole teams destroys lives. It undermines our public health leadership in critical domains such as motor vehicle crashes, child maltreatment, sexual violence prevention, drowning, traumatic brain injury and falls in older adults. Rexing labeled what’s happening a “collapse in the field.” He cautioned against these cuts, which he said could greatly undermine efforts to inhibit injuries in the future.
Sharon Gilmartin, a senior health scientist, was laid off as a result of these cuts. She reminded us of the important connection between federal workers and the communities they serve. “There’s a direct line between federal employees and the states and communities they serve,” she remarked, reinforcing the importance of continued federal support in tackling public health challenges.
The federal founding of the CDC’s injury center has been key in establishing precedent of public safety standards. Second, it energetically promotes upstream, life-saving interventions. This analysis of injuries and injury prevention has resulted in large, lasting impacts in the field of public health. Without sufficient staffing and resources, advocates fear these efforts will be dead on arrival and critical data gaps will continue to exist.
In a recent conversation, Dr. Rosenberg warned the world not to be complacent about injury prevention progress. He continued, “Many of the projects that we work on are not the type that anybody else would pick up. This actually points to a concerning gap in leadership and expertise that can have tremendous ramifications for public safety.
