Supporting Caregivers

"An Emerging Public Health Issue

Millions of older adults and people with disabilities could not maintain their independence without the help of unpaid caregivers. This care would cost nearly $470 billion a year if purchased. That’s one of the reasons that caregiving is an essential public health service and should be prioritized as an emerging public health issuepdf icon.¹

Caregivers are family members or friends who typically provide unpaid, long-term, community-based care and assistance to older adults and people with chronic health conditions or disabilities.  Caregivers help with a variety of routine tasks such as shopping, paying bills, bathing, dressing, and managing medicines.  They are often a source of emotional support and companionship for care recipients.

Caregivers: A Snapshot

• 58% of caregivers are women.
• Almost one-third of caregivers provide care at least 20 hours a week.
• Caregivers typically learn as they go and aren’t formally trained.
• 79% of caregivers care for adults aged 50 or older, and 76% of care recipients are aged 65 years and older.² 
• One in 6 non-caregivers expects to become a caregiver within two years.

Increasing Demand for Caregivers

The need for caregivers is growing along with the aging of the US population. The number of caregivers increased from 43.5 million in 2015 to about 53 million in 2020, or more than 1 in 5 Americans.³ By 2030, an estimated 73 million people in the United States will be 65 years or older.⁴ Many will require daily assistance from at least one caregiver to maintain quality of life, independence, and physical and social well-being. More than two-thirds of the US population will likely need help with tasks at some point in their lifetime.⁵

Benefits of Caregiving for Recipients and Caregivers

Caregiving allows recipients to:

• Retain their quality of life and independence.
• Avoid living in a group setting (institutionalization).
• Have less depression.
• Self-manage their chronic conditions better.

Caregiving can also benefit caregivers by helping them:

• Increase their self-confidence and fulfillment from helping others.
• Start or add to social networks of friendships associated with caregiving.
• Feel needed and useful.
• Learn and develop new skills..."
  Caregivers 

Tracking COVID-19: U.S. Public Health Surveillance and Data

"Public health surveillance, or ongoing data collection, is an essential part of public health practice. Particularly during a pandemic, timely data are important to understanding the epidemiology of a disease in order to craft policy and guide response decisionmaking. Many aspects of public health surveillance—such as which data are collectedand how—are often governed by law and policy at the state and subfederallevel, though informed by programs and expertise at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed limitations and challenges with U.S. public health surveillance, including those related to the timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of data. This report provides an overview of U.S. public health surveillance, current COVID-19 surveillance and data collection, and selected policy issues that have been highlighted by the pandemic. Appendix B includes a compilation of selected COVID-19 data resources.

Current COVID-19 Surveillance and Data Collection
 

CDC’s COVID-19 surveillance involves numeroussurveillance systems that collect a variety of data, including on cases, testing positivity rates, hospitalizations, deaths, and emergency department visits. The multiple systems reflect an effort by CDC to strike a balance in surveillance—collecting different data types, with different measurement-related strengths and weaknesses that together can provide a picture of how the pandemic is affecting different populations in different locations. Other components of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other agencies also collect data to inform emergency response. 

Congress has taken severalrelated actions, including

 enacting a new authority in the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136, §18115) authorizing the HHS Secretary to impose data reporting requirements on clinical laboratories during the public health emergency;
 
 appropriating funding for grants to jurisdictions and tribal entities that can be used for surveillance;

 appropriating $500 million in the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136) for public health data modernization; and

 enacting several provisionsin the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (PPPHCEA; P.L. 116-139) requiring regular reports on COVID-19 data and epidemiology submitted from CDC to Congress..."
Tracking COVID-19 and public health 

#BeThere to Help Prevent Suicide

"Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have lasting harmful effects on individuals, families, and communities.  Suicide is more than a mental health concern.

A recent CDC study showed that a range of factors contribute to suicide among those with and without known mental health conditions. Everyone can help prevent suicide by knowing the warning signs and where to get help.

The Facts About Suicide

Suicide is a public health problem because of its far-reaching effects:

• Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.
• One person dies by suicide every 11 minutes.
• In 2017, 10.6 million American adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.2 million made a plan, and 1.4 million attempted suicide.
• People who have experienced violence, including child abuse, bullying, or sexual violence are at higher risk for suicide.

Suicide prevention is everyone’s business. You can #BeThereexternal icon and #BeThe1Toexternal icon help a friend, loved one, or coworker. Everyone can learn the warning signs and how to get help..."
Suicide

Public Health Response to a Changing Climate

"Climate change threatens human health and well-being in many ways. Learn what CDC is doing to prevent and adapt to the health effects of climate change.

The environmental consequences of climate change are happening now and are expected to increase in the future. Some of these changes will likely include:

• heat waves,
• heavy precipitation events and flooding,
• droughts,
• more intense hurricanes and storms,
• sea level rise, and
• air pollution.

Climate change, together with other natural and human-made health stressors, influences human health and disease in numerous ways. Some existing health threats will intensify and new health threats will emerge. Not everyone is equally at risk. Important considerations include age, economic resources, and location.CDC’s Climate and Health Program is the only HHS investment in climate change adaptation. Our Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative (CRSCI) is helping grantees from 16 states and two cities use the five-step Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework to identify likely climate impacts in their communities, potential health effects associated with these impacts, and their most at-risk populations and locations. The BRACE framework then helps states develop and implement health adaptation plans and address gaps in critical public health functions and services..."
Public health & climate change

CDC Wonder database

"Welcome to CDC WONDER -- Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research -- an easy-to-use, menu-driven system that makes the information resources of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) available to public health professionals and the public at large. It provides access to a wide array of public health information.

CDC WONDER furthers CDC's mission of health promotion and disease prevention by speeding and simplifying access to public health information for state and local health departments, the Public Health Service, and the academic public health community. CDC WONDER is valuable in public health research, decision making, priority setting, program evaluation, and resource allocation.

CDC WONDER, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is an integrated information and communication system for public health. Its purposes are:

1. To promote information-driven decision making by placing timely, useful facts in the hands of public health practitioners and researchers, and
2. To provide the general public with access to specific and detailed information from CDC.

With CDC WONDER you can:

• Access statistical research data published by CDC, as well as reference materials, reports and guidelines on health-related topics;
• Query numeric data sets on CDC's computers, via "fill-in-the blank" web pages. Public-use data sets about mortality (deaths), cancer incidence, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, vaccinations, natality (births), census data and many other topics are available for query, and the requested data are readily summarized and analyzed, with dynamically calculated statistics, charts and maps..."
  CDC Wonder

Federal and State Quarantine and Isolation Authority

"In the wake of increasing fears about the spread of highly contagious diseases, federal, state, and

local governments have become increasingly aware of the need for a comprehensive public health response to such events. An effective response could include the quarantine of persons exposed to infectious biological agents that are naturally occurring or released during a terrorist attack, the isolation of infected persons, and the quarantine of certain cities or neighborhoods.

The public health authority of the states derives from the police powers granted by their constitutions and reserved to them by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The authority of the federal government to prescribe quarantine and other health measures is based on the Commerce Clause, which gives Congress exclusive authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce..."

Quarantine law

Public Health and Drought

"Cycles of drought have affected us throughout history and CDC and its partners want you to be prepared to face this public health challenge..."
Public Health and Drought

EPA Affirms National Air Quality Standards for Carbon Monoxide Are Protective of Public Health
"After a careful review of the science, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is affirming the current national air quality standards for carbon monoxide (CO). The science shows that the current standards protect public health, including those who are most susceptible, and the environment. Since 1980, levels of CO in the air have fallen by 80 percent, mostly as a result of motor vehicle emissions controls.

CO is a colorless, odorless gas emitted from combustion processes. Nationally, and particularly in urban areas, the majority of CO emissions come from motor vehicles. CO can cause harmful health effects by reducing oxygen delivery to the body’s organs (like the heart and brain) and tissues.

To ensure people are protected from unhealthy concentrations of CO and to develop better information about CO and its health impacts, EPA is revising the air monitoring requirements. The changes will require a more focused monitoring network with CO monitors placed near roads in 52 urban areas with populations of 1 million or more..."

CDC Identifies 10 Public Health Achievements of First Decade of 21st Century
"The major public health achievements of the first 10 years of the 21st century included improvements in vaccine preventable and infectious diseases, reductions in deaths from certain chronic diseases, declines in deaths and injuries from motor vehicle crashes, and more, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 10 domestic public health achievements are published in today's issue of CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)...

Advancing Regulatory Science for Public Health:A Framework for FDA’s Regulatory Science Initiative
"...This document outlines a broad vision for advancing regulatory science and unleashing its potential to improve public health. It discusses the role of the FDA, working with partners, to strengthen the field, both within the agency and throughout the Nation.

The document is organized into two sections: (1) The Promise of Regulatory Science and (2) A Collaborative Implementation Framework. The first section provides background on the emerging and
promising field of regulatory science as well as examples of current activities. It then goes on to
explore seven different public health areas in which advancements in the field can help deliver better, safer, more innovative products to Americans. The second section lays out a strategic framework that will guide FDA as we lead this nationwide effort to advance regulatory science and leverage its potential to fulfill the agency’s fundamental mission — to promote and protect the public health..."

Public Health Preparedness: Strengthening the Nation’s Emergency Response State by State
"Public Health Preparedness: Strengthening the Nation’s Emergency Response State
by State presents data on preparedness activities taking place at state and local health departments in 50 states, 4 localities (Chicago, the District of Columbia, Los Angeles County, and New York City), and 8 U.S. insular areas located in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.1 All are funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative
agreement.

Reports on public health preparedness are an important part of CDC’s overall focus
on demonstrating results, driving program improvements, and increasing accountability
for the nation’s investment in public health preparedness. CDC has now released
three preparedness reports; this is CDC’s second report with state-by-state data on
preparedness activities. It includes updates (when available) to data presented in CDC’s first state preparedness report, Public Health Preparedness: Mobilizing State by State (2008),2 as well as new data on state and local preparedness activities. In 2009, Congress expressed its desire for CDC to continue to report state-by-state data..."