Back in the United States he found a greater emphasis was placed on the individual. Americans would like to think that the world is not as complex as it is. At the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Dr McQueen pursues the CDC's role in global health, while also concentrating on national healthcare issues related to public health. Dr McQueen is interested in working with agencies with worldwide infrastructures, such as the World Health Organization, especially when it comes to chronic disease surveillance. He thinks it has a negative connotation, reminiscent of old-style eastern European politics.
Monitoring is too passive, however, because it implies watching, without doing anything.
Britain and Europe do not fare so well in his view. Communicable disease surveillance is better than chronic disease surveillance, but generally Europeans could be doing much better. The CDC can provide technical assistance to other countries to help them to develop such infrastructure if they want it. China is also willing to spend money on maintaining its systems. By taking a global approach, CDC thinks that it can avoid many of the political and historical barriers that tend to appear when an international approach is taken.