Which agency works to prevent and control disease and protect public health?

• A. CDC
• B. NIH
• C. Medicaid
• D. Medicare

Answer: (A)

Public health work centers on preventing disease, detecting outbreaks, and protecting the population’s health. The agency that leads these efforts is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathers surveillance data, responds to health threats, issues prevention guidelines, and supports vaccination and outbreak containment. While the NIH focuses primarily on biomedical research to understand diseases and develop treatments, it isn’t the agency that directs day-to-day disease prevention and control at the population level. Medicaid and Medicare are health insurance programs—Medicaid assists low-income individuals with medical costs, and Medicare provides coverage for most people aged 65 and older and some with disabilities—rather than serving as the public health prevention agency.