The following is a statement from José Luis Castro, President and CEO of Vital Strategies, on President Donald Trump’s proposed 2020 budget for The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released today:
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the front lines protecting Americans every day and is instrumental in preventing global epidemics from affecting our homeland. With average American life expectancy falling, it is all the more important to invest more, not less, in the life-saving work of CDC. To enable Americans to live longer and healthier lives, we must make progress on major health emergencies, including the crisis of drug overdose, the leading killer of Americans under 50. We must also do more to prevent deaths from heart disease, stroke, cancer, HIV/AIDS and other leading killers. Lives are at stake. We call on Congress and the Trump administration to put the public’s health before politics.”