The Trump administration’s budget cuts have eliminated over a dozen CDC data-gathering programs tracking crucial health information, including data on abortions, lead poisoning, sexual violence, and youth smoking. These cuts, justified as eliminating waste and focusing on infectious diseases, have left health experts concerned about a lack of crucial data for understanding and addressing public health issues. The resulting data gaps hinder the ability to monitor disease trends and effectively combat health threats, raising concerns about the administration’s commitment to comprehensive health surveillance. While the National Center for Health Statistics remains largely intact, the loss of numerous other programs significantly impairs the nation’s ability to track and understand various health problems.
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Following a judge’s order, federal health agencies have reinstated numerous webpages and datasets previously removed due to a presidential executive order mandating the use of “sex” instead of “gender.” The restored information includes CDC data on adolescent health, HIV, and environmental health disparities, as well as FDA guidelines on gender in clinical trials. This action comes after a lawsuit filed by Doctors for America, alleging the removal of vital public health information. While some material has been restored, some links remain broken, indicating that the process is not yet fully complete.
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The Trump administration, citing executive orders targeting “gender ideology” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” purged numerous websites across federal health agencies. This included the removal of information on LGBTQ+ health, HIV, and adolescent health, specifically data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, a crucial resource for researchers. Many pages unrelated to these topics were also removed, such as an interactive tool providing surveillance data on various infectious diseases. The removal of this information has sparked concern among researchers and health professionals regarding the potential impact on public health initiatives and the ability to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks.
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John Q. Hosedrinker