Equity Initiative

January 9, 2023

Happy New Year Colleagues

We are pleased to begin this year by sharing with you the CDC National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) Equity Initiative. This transformational long-term strategy is designed to achieve equity within the Center’s workplace and eliminate health disparities by addressing racism and other systems of oppression that hinder our mission. The Initiative builds on decades of successful work—by NCHHSTP staff, our partners, and advocates—giving us a strong foundation of proven strategies and bold ideas to advance equity.

The Initiative includes an Implementation Plan that outlines the first steps of a long-term process to place equity squarely at the forefront of all internal and external Center activities. The Plan is organized into three focus areas with goals, objectives, and activities to support achieving the goals:

• Ensuring a workplace culture that is inclusive, collaborative, and anti-racist, and one that encourages all staff to engage in dialogue about racism and other systems of oppression.
• Establishing workplace practices and policies that further increase diversity, ensure fair and equitable opportunities for advancement, and eliminate discrimination.
• Refining our systems and processes for designing, funding, and evaluating research, programs, policy, and partnerships to ensure they are intentionally, systematically, and consistently focused on addressing the social and structural causes of health disparities.

Additional information about the Initiative, the Implementation Plan, and work completed to-date is now online.  We thank you for your ongoing efforts to promote equity and eliminate disparities in the diseases and infections addressed by NCHHSTP and look forward to our continued collaborations on this vital work.

Sincerely,

/Jonathan Mermin/

Jonathan H. Mermin, MD, MPH
RADM and Assistant Surgeon General, USPHS
Director
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Stay connected: @DrMerminCDC & Connections

/Deron Burton/

Deron C. Burton, MD, JD, MPH
CAPT, USPHS
Deputy Director
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stay connected with Connections

/Donna Hubbard McCree /

Donna Hubbard McCree, PhD, MPH, RPh
Associate Director for Health Equity
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention