CDC Can Seize the Moment By Centering Equity

Princeton, N.J.—By engaging in a deep, ongoing, and honest commitment to equity, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—and state and local partners—can leverage this moment to ensure that every person and community in America can thrive, according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) brief. The RWJF brief lists five considerations that complement equity strategies that CDC raised in its Moving Forward assessment, earlier this year.

After the COVID pandemic revealed critical weaknesses in the U.S. and global public health systems, CDC thoughtfully examined its pandemic response. The assessment and recommendations included in CDC Moving Forward focused on enhancing the  timeliness, clarity, and effectiveness in agency actions in addition to governance, structure, and workforce matters. While equity was emphasized as a core value driving the reforms, CDC and state and local public health agencies would benefit from a bolder vision and detailed strategies to make our public health system truly just.

RWJF’s five considerations include:

1. Vision, leadership, and governance. CDC should take a holistic approach to equity and position and resource equity efforts for success. Efforts must span workforce, strategy, and programs as well as culture, policies, and organizational structure.
2. Partnerships and trust. CDC should pair strong national leadership with a decentralized model of action that resources and empowers state and local partners, including community-based organizations. With this infrastructure, CDC would be better positioned not only to respond to public health emergencies but also to foster more just systems of public health that are accessible and visible to all.
   
3. Data and accountability. CDC must measure progress and hone its strategy based on the experiences and outcomes of people most affected by structural discrimination. As recommended by the National Commission to Transform Public Health Data Systems, CDC and other federal health agencies should develop and implement standards for data collection aiming to include marginalized groups and their unique perspectives.
   
4. Communications and narrative. While tracking messages, mindsets, and misinformation, the agency must communicate accessibly and strategically. The goal should be an equity-focused narrative, tailored for various audiences, that fosters a broader understanding of racism—not race—as the cause of poorer health outcomes for people of color.
5. People and culture. CDC must value equity when recruiting, training, and evaluating staff and when conceptualizing public health expertise. CDC should develop a set of health equity competencies, spanning all parts of the agency. Externally, it should fund state and local health departments to build equity knowledge, skills, and commitments across the public health system.

Leaders on both sides of the political spectrum agree that a strong, effective CDC is essential to the health and wellbeing of our nation. One centered on equity, equipped to support the best health outcomes for even the most socially disadvantaged populations, will serve us all. To do so, Congress and the administration must provide CDC with the political independence to follow the best public health strategies, and provide sufficient, stable funding to CDC and the many state, local, tribal and territorial health departments they work alongside. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed weaknesses in America’s public health system that demand a holistic, bipartisan response.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is committed to improving health and health equity in the United States. In partnership with others, we are working to develop a Culture of Health rooted in equity that provides every individual with a fair and just opportunity to thrive, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have.