The CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is known as a lead federal agency for “protecting the health and safety of people, providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and promoting health through strong partnerships.” The CDC’s headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and the director is Dr. Julie L. Gerberding. Across the United States, the CDC employs over 8,500 people. It is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS.      Since 1946, the CDC has used science to approach severe health problems. This agency has a major role in protecting the public from dangerous diseases in the present and future. CDC doctors will travel at a moment’s notice to look into the outbreak of a disease outside or inside the United States. It works for the public everyday in numerous ways, but one way is to protect children from diseases that can be prevented by a vaccine. The CDC will work to get these kids immunized. This agency keeps track of vaccine statistics in the United States through the National Center for Health Statistics. These statistics show the number of people that received a vaccine in a certain year. To see this data click Here.      The CDC’s mission is “to promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability.” It is working to achieve this mission by working with partners across the nation and world. With these partnerships, the CDC hopes to “monitor health, detect and investigate health problems, conduct research to enhance prevention, develop and advocate sound public health policies, implement prevention strategies, promote healthy behaviors, foster safe and healthful environments, and provide leadership and training.”      The CDC works with national, state, and local government organizations to recognize dangerous environmental hazards. However, this agency not only works with government organizations, but also with private corporations, media outlets, and the public. The CDC says that together “we can achieve our vision of a better world, with safer and healthier people.”      Some of the divisions within the CDC are the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), and the National Immunization Program (NIP).      The National Center for Infectious Diseases looks to prevent anything caused by infectious diseases worldwide. The National Immunization Program does basically the same thing except it looks into the diseases where the illness or death can be prevented by a vaccine in both children and adults. Click Here to learn more about the CDC.