In early April, Reductions in Force (RIF) notices were issued to staff within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Epilepsy Program. This comes as part of a massive RIF at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and staff reductions at other important HHS agencies like the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that play critical roles in epilepsy research and medical device review. While the future of the CDC Epilepsy Program itself is not entirely clear, these staff reductions will halt progress in preventing, treating, and managing epilepsy.
The CDC Epilepsy Program is the only public health program specifically related to epilepsy with a national scope and community programs that examine, test, and share strategies to improve the lives of people with epilepsy and their loved ones. This vital program supports seizure recognition and first aid training, including for school personnel; research to better understand the burden and risk factors of epilepsy; self-management programs that improve the health and well-being of people with epilepsy; and Project ECHO so that epilepsy specialists can help primary care doctors in rural communities.
Elimination of the CDC Epilepsy Program staff will be devastating to the epilepsy community, and we need you to take action today. Urge your members of Congress to take action to reverse these CDC Epilepsy Program staff cuts and protect funding for the program moving forward.
To take action, enter your information to be matched to your elected officials. The first time you take action in VoterVoice, the system will send a verification code to your email. This is to ensure your personal information is safe and secure and can only be modified by you. After the first time, you should rarely encounter verification codes. You will then see the message and be able to add your own story. We strongly encourage you to share your own personal experience as a member of the epilepsy community. More personalized comments will have a significantly greater impact.