DeFraites BMC Public Health 2011, 11(Suppl 2):S1 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/S2/S1 sexually transmitted diseases, H1N1 lessons learned, civil-military cooperation in public health and pandemic influenza tabletop exercises [14]. The tabletop exercises, held in conjunction with the annual Force Health Pro- tection Conference, were targeted to train public health emergency officers and afforded the military medical community with an opportunity to receive continuing medical education credits. Throughout 2009, AFHSC sponsored rotations for residents in preventive medicine graduate medical edu- cation programs at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the General Preventive Medicine resi- dency program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Approximately half of the resident projects resulted in a report published either in the Medical Surveillance Monthly Report or refereed medi- cal literature. Epidemiological analysis and reporting The center provides timely information to a wide spec- trum of stakeholders. Its epidemiologists use data in the DMSS—augmented by the Theater Medical Data Store (health outcomes among personnel deployed in south- west Asia), and other datasets as needed—to produce numerous routine and ad-hoc analyses and reports. Routine periodic reports include the DoD Installation Injury Report, featuring specific rates of injuries among the assigned military population on installations (mili- tary bases). and DoD Lost Duty Time Application, which similarly includes counts and rates of health events and the resulting cost of these events in terms of lost workdays. Both reports are maintained on the cen- ter’s website at http://www.afhsc.mil. Targeted reports provide statistical support for DoD health quality, deployment health and other important Military Health System metrics. The center also pro- vides analysis products upon request to meet a variety of operational and technical requirements. Finally, AFHSC supports limited research efforts, mission permitting. A number of reports were developed to support the influenza pandemic, including periodic and ongoing surveillance for adverse events potentially associated with immunization against seasonal or pandemic strains. The Medical Surveillance Monthly Report (MSMR) (http://www.afhsc.mil/msmr), published by AMSA from April 1995 to March 2007, is the center’s most widely read and well-known publication. Its origi- nal purpose, as described by AMSA in 1995, is the dis- semination of medical surveillance information of broad interest. As stated at the inception of the MSMR, “The ultimate goal … is to provide readily available information necessary to inform, motivate, and empower commanders, their surgeons, and Page 3 of 4 medical staffs to design, implement, and resource pro- grams that enhance health, fitness, and readiness.” [15] That purpose remains relevant today. Fifteen years and more than 100 issues later, the monthly publication, now published by AFHSC, has emerged as DoD’s public health periodical of record, providing current information and analysis on a wide variety of operational health topics, including trends of communicable and vector-borne diseases, traumatic brain injury, mental and behavioral health issues, and chronic diseases that affect the active-duty military population. The future The center provides DoD with a unique centralized epi- demiologic capability to assemble and analyze disease patterns among U.S. military personnel and beneficiaries worldwide. Integral to AFHSC’s role is the ongoing monitoring of the prevalence, incidence and trends of infectious diseases in time, person and place. As a result of these efforts, estimates of operational impact and dis- ease burden can be determined and recommendations can be provided to key decision makers within DoD for implementation of control measures in support of force health protection. The release of the President’s Policy Directive addres- sing the Strategy for Countering Biological Threats [16] in November 2009 marked the recognition that strong capabilities in emerging infectious disease surveillance and response provide substantial security value to the nation and the world. With key contacts throughout the world, AFHSC is well positioned to significantly contri- bute to this greater U.S. government initiative. To further support this initiative, AFHSC will pursue new partnerships to ensure that DoD continues to possess the capability to anticipate, detect and respond to a broad array of threats that could threaten the health of the military and military-associated populations, as well as civilian populations around the world. Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank the numerous individuals who perform surveillance as part of the AFHSC-GEIS global network, including all individuals in the Ministries of Health and Ministries of Defense of partner nations whose efforts have contributed to the success of the network. The opinions stated in this paper are those of the author and do not represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Defense. This article has been published as part of BMC Public Health Volume 11 Supplement 1, 2011: Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (GEIS): an update for 2009. The full contents of the supplement are available online at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11?issue=S2. Competing interests The author declares that he has no competing interests. Published: 4 March 2011