Partnerships and Collaboration

Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (Forum) is a working group of 23 Federal agencies, including NCHS.  The Forum periodically produces America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, a statistical data report intended to enhance data collections on America’s children and families. During alternate publication years, the Forum produces a Brief report, highlighting selected indicators and tracking recent changes for all 41 report indicators across a range of domains: family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health.  For the first time, America's Children in Brief, 2016, highlights selected indicators by race and ethnicity. Click on the following link to visit the Forum’s web site and to take the data user survey: http://www.childstats.gov/

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Board of Scientific Counselors

The Board of Scientific Counselors is a committee charged with providing advice and making recommendations to the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services; the Director, CDC; and the Director, NCHS, regarding the scientific and technical program goals and objectives, strategies, and priorities of the National Center for Health Statistics.

Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP)

NCHS is one of the federal statistical agencies belonging to the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy (ICSP). The ICSP, which is led by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is composed of the heads of the nation's 10 principal statistical agencies plus the heads of the statistical units of four nonstatistical agencies. The ICSP coordinates statistical work across organizations, enabling the exchange of information about organization programs and activities, and provides advice and counsel to OMB on statistical activities. The statistical activities of these agencies are predominantly the collection, compilation, processing, or analysis of information for statistical purposes. Within this framework, NCHS functions as the Federal agency responsible for the collection and dissemination of the nation's vital and health statistics.

Interagency Working Group on Summary Measures of Health (IAWG)

The Interagency Working Group on Summary Measures of Health (IAWG) was created in early 2000 in response to the need to improve the measurement of health and track the burden of disease. The Working Group is chaired by Dr. Edward Sondik, Director of CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, and includes representatives from the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and several other agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

International Statistics Program (ISP)

NCHS maintains international health statistics programs with more than 20 countries including bilateral agreements. These programs consist of cooperative ventures and collaborative research on analytical and methodological issues, technical assistance, consultations, training, information exchange, and liaison with multinational agencies. In addition, NCHS sponsors and hosts international meetings and symposia and contributes via scientific articles and lectures. Responsibility for these projects is spread across a variety of NCHS divisions and offices, including the International Statistics Program (ISP). Through these efforts, NCHS seeks to improve the availability and advance the quality and comparability of health data in both the United States and other countries.

International Year of Statistics

The International Year of Statistics ("Statistics2013") is a worldwide celebration and recognition of the contributions of statistical science. Through the combined energies of organizations worldwide, Statistics2013 will promote the importance of Statistics to the broader scientific community, business and government data users, the media, policy makers, employers, students, and the general public.

National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS)

The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics was established by Congress to serve as an advisory body to the Department of Health and Human Services on health data, statistics, and national health information policy. It fulfills important review and advisory functions relative to health data and statistical problems of national and international interest, stimulates or conducts studies of such problems, and makes proposals for improvement of the nation’s health statistics and information systems. NCHS provides executive secretariat and logistical support services to the Committee.

Public Health Data Standards Consortium (PHDSC)

The Public Health Data Standards Consortium is an important vehicle for promoting standardization of information on health and health care. NCHS was instrumental in establishing the Consortium in 1999. The Consortium, which incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 2003, is a national nonprofit member-based partnership of federal, state, and local health agencies; national and local professional associations; and public and private sector organizations and individuals.

Washington Group on Disability Statistics

The Washington Group on Disability Statistics was formed as a result of the United Nations International Seminar on Measurement of Disability that took place in New York in June 2001. An outcome of that meeting was the recognition that statistical and methodological work was needed at an international level to facilitate the comparison of data on disability cross-nationally. Consequently, the United Nations Statistical Commission authorized the formation of a City Group to address some of the issues identified in the International Seminar and invited NCHS, the official health statistics agency of the United States, to host the first meeting of the group.