CDCGlobalHealth.Net: A Virtual Bridge Between CDC Headquarters and the Field

Background: The scope and complexity of today's global health challenges ensures that no single country or agency can address them. CDC works in close partnership with multiple US government agencies and other international organizations to shape global health policies and to fund, implement, and evaluate them. With staff located at Atlanta headquarters and in more than 50 countries around the world, CDC faced the challenge of sharing information so that the agency's global health goals could be reached. A particular problem is that many overseas staff are unable to access CDC's Intranet, where Atlanta-based employees can easily access information related to management and operations, forms, guidance, and other data needed to carry out CDC's global health activities. 

Program background:  In 2007, CDC's Coordinating Office for Global Health (now the Center for Global Health) followed the model of the agency's Global AIDS Program and developed a password-protected Internet site using the SharePoint platform to meet the information needs of Atlanta-based staff and CDC overseas staff. 

Evaluation Methods and Results: The site was established in 2007 and has grown from a few dozen registered users to more than 1,400. Since its inception, the site has grown from primarily a repository for policies and brief announcements to a robust site that includes more than 120 country-specific profiles; close to 40 team sites, including one used extensively by the CDC team charged with helping Haiti Ministry of Health colleagues re-build that country's public health infrastructure; and a section devoted to CDC's work to help implement the Obama administration's 6-year, $63 billion Global Health Initiative. Using a simple log-in ID and password, the site's registered users have 365/24/7 access to the information they need to help CDC achieve its global mission: Healthier, safer and longer lives worldwide through science-based health action.  

Conclusions: CDCGlobalHealth.net provides an easily accessible, user-friendly vehicle for real-time communication and information sharing for all CDC staff--based at headquarters or in more than 50 offices around the world--engaged in global work.  

Implications for research and/or practice: Other parts of CDC or other public health organizations needing an easily accessible platform for information exchange may benefit from exploring the development and maintenance of a site such as CDCGlobalHealth.net.