The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the Atlanta, Georgia-based agency of the Public Health Service that has led efforts to prevent diseases such as malaria, polio, smallpox, tuberculosis, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). As the nation's prevention agency, the CDC's responsibilities have expanded, and it now addresses contemporary threats to health such as injury, environmental and occupational hazards, behavioral risks, and chronic diseases.

Divisions within the CDC use surveillance, epidemiologic and laboratory studies, and community interventions to investigate and prevent public health threats.

The Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion designs programs to reduce death and disability from chronic diseases—cardiovascular, kidney, liver and lung diseases, and cancer and diabetes.

The Center for Environmental Health and Injury Control assists public health officials at the scene of natural or artificial disasters such as volcano...