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The CDC is fighting against major health problems like obesity, food poisoning and AIDS.
STATES CHRONICLE – The progress which was previously revealed when fighting against food poisoning and obesity has lately become disappointing. Despite all the efforts and struggle to combat these health threats by the public health agency of the nation, the results were disappointing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have published a self-assessment of their campaign, focusing on the main health problems.
A lot of problematic topics like teen pregnancy and smoking were analyzed, discussed and they managed to find a solution. Nevertheless, some other troublesome fields did not register any progress, or they managed to become even worse than before.
Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of CDC, has argued that the most disappointing results were revealed in the battle against child obesity. Even if authorities have struggled to find solutions to fight against this severe problem which affects so many children, there was little progress made. The statistics have shown that the goal which was initially set by CDC was not achieved yet.
Back in 2009, after Frieden was named the director of the CDC, he developed a list of priorities known as “winnable battles” meant to take care of all the main health problems which are currently affecting the US. The top priorities on the list were nutrition, auto injuries, health care infections, AIDS, smoking, teen pregnancy, and obesity. Later, food poisoning was added too.
On December 5th, this agency has published its final report card regarding this campaign. Frieden will no longer be in charge of the CDC due to Trump’s administration which will soon control all federal agencies, appointing its managers. Studies have proved that Frieden managed to obtain significant progress in combating teen pregnancy and cigarette smoking.
The national goals which were set last years were met. The agency managed to implement programs to reduce youth smoking by 12% and adult smoking by 17%. What is more, they have also succeeded in decreasing the rates of teen births by approximately 20%.
Some people claimed that these goals were relatively easy to achieve because there had existed a lot of campaigns which combated them before even Frieden was named the director of the CDC. A previous purpose was related to the reduction of auto crashes by approximately 31% until the end of 2015. Earlier this decade, the accomplishment of this goal seemed to be near. Unfortunately, recent statistics have shown that car crash deaths have dropped by only 21% due to distracted driving.
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