Recent Accomplishments

At a glance

In 2024, the Global Health Center (GHC) advanced agency priorities, focusing on readiness and response, supporting young families, and One CDC. GHC successfully worked across the agency to design and apply the Global Health Strategic Framework to resource planning and partnered with country governments to strengthen six core public health capabilities. Read more about our top five accomplishments.

Obtained outstanding results in global HIV and TB

Working at the forefront of the global response to two of the world's deadliest infectious diseases – HIV and TB – GHC's Division of Global HIV and TB strengthened communication by releasing a new resource guide on implementing and scaling up Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U). This guide promotes the actionable message that people with HIV who have an undetectable viral load cannot transmit HIV to their sexual partners, augmenting the work of more than 1,000 organizations advancing U=U in 105 countries.

Key highlights:

  • Supported HIV treatment for 6 million people, accounting for 61%of all people supported on treatment by PEPFAR and 41% of all people on treatment in the world. This included providing HIV treatment for 440,000 pregnant women so their babies would be born HIV free.
  • Screened over 10 million people living with HIV for TB and supported 1,400 sites across 27 countries to speed up TB testing turnaround times from weeks to just hours.
  • Supported 17 Population-based HIV Impact Assessments and bio-behavioral surveys to better understand the status of HIV epidemics and more impactfully target resources to end HIV as a public threat by 2030.

Protected the U.S. and the world from deadly outbreaks

GHC's Division of Global Health Protection worked to strengthen health systems helped stop outbreaks at their source and protect Americans.

When Rwanda experienced its first-ever Marburg virus outbreak in September, 182 CDC-trained Rwandan disease detectives responded quickly, helping to contain the outbreak by December.

When Lassa fever was detected in a traveler returning from Iowa to Liberia, CDC drew upon our 16 years of trusted partnership with the Liberia Ministry of Health and the National Public Health Institute of Liberia to share essential information on the Lassa fever situation in Liberia that helped guide the response team in Iowa.

Key highlights:

  • Introduced the 7-1-7 strategy in 26 countries to help identify response bottlenecks and reduce outbreak detection time to less than 7 days, reporting time to one day, and response time to 7 days.
  • Increased global public health capacity by partnering with 32 countries and 5 regions to build and strengthen their National Public Health Institutes, or CDCs.

Kept the world safe from vaccine-preventable diseases

As a leading partner in U.S. global immunization efforts for a healthier and safer world, our Global Immunization Division strengthened vaccination efforts to prevent outbreaks and move the world closer to polio eradication.

When positive environmental samples of variant polio were identified in Gaza for the first time in 20 years, GHC worked quickly with U.S. Government colleagues and partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to ensure days of tranquility and implementation of a polio vaccination campaign. Nearly 95% of the eligible children in Gaza were vaccinated for polio, despite the ongoing conflict.

Key highlights:

  • Effectively supported outbreak response activities in 44 countries across 8 vaccine-preventable diseases, including cholera, measles, and polio.
  • Impacted global policy with models showing that hundreds of thousands of children could be saved from severe birth defects caused by congenital rubella syndrome over 30 years if all countries adopt rubella vaccines, leading WHO to recommend universal rubella vaccine introduction.
  • Released important data about the surge in measles cases across the globe in our 9th annual MMWR Measles Update, revealing an estimated 3 million cases of measles in 2023 (up 20% from 2022) driven by inadequate immunization coverage globally post Covid-19.

Prioritized global health security as national security

As Americans' first line of defense against diseases originating overseas, GHC's work made Global Health Security stronger. GHC was a key player in the development a new Global Health Security Strategy launched last April that reaffirmed the U.S. Government's commitment to 100 countries worldwide.

A recent White House progress report showed how CDC investments have strengthened the world's ability to prevent emergencies, detect new threats early, and respond rapidly and effectively when outbreaks occur.

GHC is also operating more effectively as one U.S. Government in emergency responses through the National Security Council-approved Playbook for Biological Incident Response, through which CDC led both the clade 1 mpox and Marburg outbreak responses.

Strengthened ties with countries around the world

GHC's overseas platforms and trusted partnerships are at the heart of what we do. This year, we saw the benefits of CDC's longstanding relationships and forged new ones.

For example, GHC staff helped longtime partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo respond faster when clade I mpox began its spread. GHC developed new connections at the 2nd U.S.-Japan Health Security Committee Meeting, where CDC and Japan reaffirmed commitments to stronger technical exchange and collaboration through our newly launched East Asia/Pacific regional office.

As we move into 2025, GHC will continue to strengthen health systems, stop health threats at their source, and improve health outcomes around the world.