The Public Health Workforce is Not OK

You Don’t Notice Public Health Until It’s Gone: The True Costs of Cutting the Workforce - Voices #29

Emma Aston, a former CDC health communicator, details how a 2025 Reduction in Force eliminated roughly a quarter of the agency’s workforce, silencing key public‑health messaging. The cuts halted campaigns on tobacco, HIV, and flu, while new executive orders imposed strict clearance rules that slowed critical guidance. Aston describes the fallout for displaced workers, who now face unemployment, underemployment, and limited private‑sector options. She warns that eroding the public‑health workforce will weaken disease surveillance, increase preventable illness, and raise long‑term health‑care costs.