This MMWR supplement summarizes the deliberations of CDC/ATSDR
scientists and managers who met in September 2009 in Atlanta as
part of the 2009 Consultation on CDC/ATSDR's Vision for Public
Health Surveillance in the 21st Century. The meeting was
convened to reflect on domestic and global public health
surveillance practice and to recommend a strategic framework to
advance public health surveillance to meet continuing and new
challenges. The first report is an adaptation of the keynote
address for the meeting, which summarized the history of public
health surveillance, the need to reassess its usefulness, the
rationale for topics selected for discussion, and the charge to
participants. Subsequent reports summarize the discussions of
workgroups that addressed specific topics in surveillance
science and practices. Public health surveillance in the United
States has evolved from monitoring infectious diseases to
tracking the occurrence of many noninfectious conditions, such
as injuries, birth defects, chronic co