HHS is working on strategies to protect the public from known and emerging infectious diseases and prevent non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic conditions. HHS advances the development and delivery of safe, effective, and innovative diagnostics, treatments, therapeutics, medical devices, and vaccines. HHS invests in innovative technology and development to ensure the supply and availability of diagnostics, treatments, therapeutics, medical devices, and vaccines while leveraging resources and collaborations to support and apply research, evaluation, and data insights about non-communicable and infectious disease. Below is a selection of strategies HHS is implementing.
In the context of HHS, this Strategic Plan adopts the definition of underserved populations listed in Executive Order 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government to refer to “populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, who have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life”; this definition includes individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality. Individuals may belong to more than one underserved community and face intersecting barriers.
Contributing OpDivs and StaffDivs
AHRQ, ASPR, CDC, CMS, FDA, HRSA, IHS, NIH, OASH, and OGA work to achieve this objective.
Strategies
Develop and deliver evidenced-based safe, effective, testing, treatments, therapeutics, medical devices, vaccines, and prevention strategies
- Mobilize resources and collaborations, including domestic, international, and public-private partnerships to support the research, development, testing, manufacture, and equitable distribution of safe and effective prevention strategies, diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, and medical devices for non-communicable and infectious disease.
- Increase collaboration with domestic and international partners, including community-based organizations, to improve confidence in vaccines and vaccination uptake rates, especially among disproportionately affected populations.
- Build and support sustainable immunization programs, and capacity at local, national, regional, and global levels to better prevent and respond to disease-specific challenges and meet disease eradication, elimination, and control targets.
- Support evidence-based healthcare delivery models and engage stakeholders across public health and healthcare systems to increase awareness and use of safe and effective treatments and therapeutics in diverse patient populations, including tribal and territorial communities.
- Leverage partnerships and communication networks throughout state, tribal, local, and territorial communities to promote appropriate use of antimicrobials and antimicrobial stewardship across all healthcare and veterinary settings.
- Foster and leverage partnerships with key stakeholders throughout the food production, manufacturing, storage, and distribution enterprise, as well as tribal and Urban Indian Organization partners, to promote and implement science-based preventive control standards for contamination of domestic and imported foods.
Invest in innovative technology and development to ensure supply and availability of safe and effective diagnostics, treatments, therapeutics, medical products and devices, and vaccines
- Support the development of new, safe, and effective medical products with improved delivery characteristics, such as easier storage conditions, longer shelf-life, and reduced dosing, for the treatment, prevention, and diagnosis of non-communicable and infectious diseases.
- Support the application and use of innovative technologies, including mobilizing industry to advance manufacturing (including flexible on demand and point-of-care manufacturing) and artificial intelligence to accelerate research and manufacturing, to improve quality, address shortages, and speed time-to-market for new diagnostics, treatments, therapeutics, medical products, and vaccines.
- Advance the research and development of accessible, point of care diagnostic testing to detect non-communicable and infectious diseases to ensure that timely, safe, and effective treatments and therapeutics can be delivered equitably to all communities when needed, including underserved communities, tribes, and territories.
Leverage resources and collaborations to support and apply research, evaluation, and data insights about non-communicable and infectious disease
- Engage in research to better understand the overall disease burden and effective strategies for intervention and improved quality of life associated with chronic conditions.
- Build and maintain partnerships, including federal, non-federal, academic and industry partnerships, to promote the development, implementation, evaluation, and availability of vaccines and other treatments to combat antimicrobial resistance and microbial threats.
- Invest in data analysis, research, and evaluation efforts, including opportunities for data sharing and linkages, to better understand the burden of disease in a variety of industry and occupation settings and further the development and implementation of vaccines for high-burden diseases and diseases with epidemic or pandemic potential.
- Support the availability and evaluate the effectiveness of prevention and mitigation measures—including engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment—in workplaces across all industry sectors, including those with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantages that elevate risk and exposure.
- Conduct vaccine safety monitoring and clinical research to keep vaccines safe and provide compensation to people who have been injured by specific vaccines.
- Improve the ability to monitor supply chain shortages and proactively prevent them by improved transparency and data sharing among state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, industry, and federal partners — ensuring supplies are distributed on a priority basis.
