SAVIR joins health groups in urging RFK Jr. to reinstate injury center staff

SAVIR has joined a group of 40 organizations urging the HHS secretary to reinstate the injury center:

Posted April 14, 2025 at 10:29am on Roll Call

A group of more than 40 organizations is urging Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reinstate staff who were purged at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

In a letter sent to Kennedy on Friday, first shared with CQ Roll Call, the groups voice concerns that purging the center’s staff will impact the administration’s ability to carry out injury and domestic violence prevention programs.

The letter was signed by a host of domestic violence prevention and health groups, including the Action Alliance, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association.

Among the sweeping staff cuts across HHS that the Trump administration carried out last week were layoffs at a small center within the CDC that studies injuries, including those related to firearms, domestic violence and traumatic brain injuries.

“The loss of more than 200 public health officials in one of the smallest centers at CDC will undoubtedly have a significant negative impact on its ability to continue the administration of injury and violence prevention programs within its jurisdiction,” the organizations wrote.

The groups wrote that they’re particularly concerned about how the cuts to the program will affect data systems and surveillance programs that the center conducted.

“No other federal agency collects, analyzes and links hospital and public health data sets to help illustrate a comprehensive picture of the circumstances that lead to injury and violence,” they wrote. “State, local, municipal governments and universities rely on these data to inform the design and implementation of targeted injury and violence prevention efforts.”