ATLANTA — Recent layoffs at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a federal agency dedicated to protecting the nation’s public health, are expected to hurt the lives of Black Americans, experts warn. At stake is a possible rise in infections, disease, and even death.
More than 20 percent of CDC’s workforce has already been eliminated from the 13,000 people it employe worldwide. More cuts are expected.
The impact will be felt widely, experts say.
“Public health, as we know it, is gone,” Delmonte Jefferson, executive director at The Center for Black Health & Equity in Durham, N.C., told Black News & Views when asked about the recent changes at CDC and other federal government public health agencies.
Recent cuts have directly affected CDC’s ability to do its job.
Last month, as the April 7-13 observance of National Public Health Week approached, 2,400 full-time jobs were slashed at CDC, in keeping with executive orders from President Donald Trump. That followed a previous round of layoffs in mid-February that eliminated 700-750 full-time jobs, along with numerous contractor positions. These reductions eliminated all or some of multiple departments, creating a void that could significantly impact the health and well-being of Black Americans.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the umbrella organization for CDC and other public health agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The cuts at CDC and other public health federal agencies align with the government’s intentions to reduce the HHS workforce by a quarter, from 82,000 employees to 62,000 employees.
Disease monitoring
CDC monitors diseases during emergencies and non-emergencies. In its 2022-2027 CDC Strategic Plan, the agency committed to equitably protect the health, safety, and security of all. But public health agencies will not be able to perform their work adequately with the cuts taking place, according to an open letter published on April 9 by The American Public Health Association (APHA).
“Reductions will undermine the work of our nation’s top public health agencies to keep us all healthy and . . . weaken our nation’s ability to meaningfully address any health problem,” the APHA letter stated.
Reportedly, CDC employees in critical roles, such as those conducting research on bird flu, have been reinstated. As of early April, however, most of the released employees had not returned to work.
Romeo Galang, MD, MPH, a medical director at CDC, warned that the absence of these public health employees would result in a loss of valuable expertise.
“These are scientists, analysts, program managers, epidemiologists, healthcare professionals, laboratorians, communicators, and policy experts who have spent their careers protecting the public, advancing disease prevention, and responding to crises most of us never see coming,” Galang wrote in a recent social media post. “They bring deep institutionalized knowledge, mission-driven leadership, and hard-won expertise.”
Response to chronic disease affected
Along with monitoring infectious diseases, CDC also monitors chronic diseases, including cancer and diabetes, as well as chronic conditions, including hypertension and COPD. Some of these diseases and conditions disproportionately affect Black Americans. For example, Black Americans have the highest mortality rate of any racial and ethnic group for all cancers combined. In 2023, Black American adults were 20% more likely to have diagnosed hypertension (high blood pressure) than non-Hispanic white adults. In 2022, Black Americans were diagnosed with HIV infection at more than seven times the rate of non-Hispanic whites.
While April’s cuts left CDC’s cancer and heart/stroke areas intact, reductions affected all or some of many other areas, including those focused on health disparities, smoking, oral health, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and HIV.
“Essential government agencies and services are not replaceable or interchangeable; neither are people’s lives,” Gregorio Millett, MPH, director of DC Public Policy at the Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR, said in a social media post. “We are no longer ending HIV (or any other infectious disease)—domestically or globally—and we’re actively fanning the flames,” he added.
Work on health disparities set back
Even with the work of the 79-year-old CDC, health disparities have persisted. Black Americans continue to be disproportionately affected by cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other health conditions.
On April 1, the Trump administration eliminated CDC’s Office of Health Equity, which focuses specifically on health disparities. That office also partnered with the National Association of State Offices of Minority Health and other organizations that helped communities nationwide meet local health needs, especially during emergencies.
On April 1, the administration also eliminated CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, which fought decades of strategically placed tobacco advertisements and tobacco smoking incentives targeting marginalized communities. Tobacco use presents risks for heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and other consequences that fall hardest on communities already facing inequities in access to care.
In November 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General issued the report, “Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities.” More than 50,000 Black Americans adults are estimated to die each year from causes related to cigarette smoking, according to the report. Also, exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke is disproportionately higher among Black people than among people in other racial and ethnic groups, report indicated.
The administration’s recent decisions are putting Black Americans at further risk, some warn.
“The floodgates will open,” said Henrietta Ross, PhD, MPH, who until her layoff this year worked with the Office of Health Equity within CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “Tobacco product advertising will increase, and cessation education will decrease.”
Emergency response affected
The CDC’s responses to crises, such as the Flint, Michigan, water contamination emergency, that affect Black communities will also likely be diminished as a result of the administration’s actions, health experts said.
Recognizing disparities during the COVID-19 outbreak, for example, CDC introduced the position of chief health equity officer into its incident management structure. This person addressed long-term COVID-19–associated disparities resulting from inequities in healthcare access and various other societal factors.
No one knows the exact impact of the current administration’s most recent decisions—or the decisions to come. Yet, some feel that an impact is most certain.
Ultimately,” Dr. Ross said, “Black lives will be affected.”
