NACCHO joins CDC Project Firstline to strengthen local public health capacity against infectious diseases

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gained a major new partner last week for its effort to improve local healthcare’s capabilities against infectious diseases, in the form of the nearly 3,000 local health departments comprising the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).

Under Project Firstline, a program meant to bolster local healthcare settings’ capabilities to face down infectious diseases, partners have put infection prevention and control (IPC) front and center. Its goal is to create a set of practices that could prevent the transmission of infectious diseases through patients, healthcare workers, and larger communities, with methods such as hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, and vaccination.

“COVID-19 has heightened public awareness of the importance of public health in various settings and revealed critical opportunities to improve infection prevention and control,” NACCHO CEO Lori Tremmel Freeman said. “Local health departments have demonstrated they are more than willing to meet this challenge head-on, and it is important that they are provided with the training and resources to be successful in this role.”

Under the program, local health departments are called to support IPC efforts in traditional healthcare settings and facilities such as correctional and adult living facilities. These departments can make recommendations for improving infection prevention after outbreaks and seek out ways to work with facilities on improvement.

NACCHO now joins a coalition of dozens, including other groups like the National Network of Public Health Institutes. Together, they will build and spread an interactive infection control curriculum for healthcare and public health workforces throughout the country.