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Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division

Timely, Relevant, Comprehensive and Actionable Health Surveillance

The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division is the central epidemiologic health resource for the U.S. military. We conduct medical surveillance to protect those who serve our nation in uniform and allies who are critical to our national security interests. AFHSD is a division within DHA’s Public Health.

AFHSD is organized into three branches: Epidemiology and Analysis, Global Emerging Infections Surveillance, and Integrated Biosurveillance. We place emphasis on defense management tools through our Information Technology Support section.

We coordinate and leverage health surveillance resources across the DOD Public Health enterprise to include the Defense Centers for Public Health – Aberdeen (Army), Defense Centers for Public Health – Dayton (Air Force), and Defense Centers for Public Health – Portsmouth (Navy and Marine Corps) for early warning, health threat assessments and force health protection.

Learn how our health information analysis supports worldwide disease surveillance and public health activities to improve the U.S. military’s Force Health Protection mission. 

Purpose

To Protect the Total Force from “All Hazard” threats via actionable health surveillance information and support.

Goals

  • Be flexible, responsive and predictive to our customers
  • Provide early warning capability of global “All Hazard” threat assessment specific to our customers
  • Inform risk management decisions across the health surveillance enterprise

Explore our health surveillance resources to learn how to utilize our data applications, systems and the ways our health information analysis supports worldwide disease surveillance and public health activities to improve the U.S. military's Force Health Protection program.

Medical Surveillance Monthly Report 

MSMRThe Medical Surveillance Monthly Report is AFHSD's flagship publication. The monthly peer-reviewed journal provides evidence-based estimates of the incidence, distribution, impact, and trends of health-related conditions among service members. Additionally, the MSMR focuses one issue per year on the absolute and relative morbidity burden attributable to various illnesses and injuries among service members and beneficiaries.

View Current Report View Archived ReportsArchived Reports

Health Surveillance Explorer

Health Surveillance ExplorerThe Health Surveillance Explorer is a dynamic CAC-enabled mapping application that allows the Geo­graphic Combatant Commands to identify global health threats and disease outbreaks in near-real time. It provides timely, relevant and actionable health surveillance information to military leaders around the globe. The HSE makes it more efficient and effective to assemble surveillance data.

Launch HSE

Proposal Management Information System

Launch Proposal Management Information SystemThe Proposal Management Information System program is a web-based application used to facilitate program management at the AFHSD's Global Emerging Infections Surveillance section. Investigators in the GEIS partner network submit proposals for funding consideration and GEIS operations staff monitors the progress of those projects.

Go to ProMIS

Defense Medical Epidemiology Database

DMED ButtonThe Defense Medical Epidemiology Database provides worldwide access to de-identified data contained in the Defense Medical Surveillance System. Through this user-friendly interface, authorized users can create customized queries of disease and injury rates in active duty populations.

Go to DMED

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Report
Feb 22, 2024

2022 DOD Worldwide Numbers for TBI

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TBICoE is the Defense Department’s office of responsibility for tracking traumatic brain injury data in the U.S. military. Here you’ll find data on the number of active-duty service members—anywhere U.S. forces are located—with a first-time TBI diagnosis in the calendar year 2022. The data is also broken down by each branch of the armed services.

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Leveraging Emerging Technology to Detect Biothreats Subject of Recent Summit

Leveraging Emerging Technology to Detect Biothreats Subject of Recent Summit

The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division’s Global Emerging Infections Surveillance branch hosted its first Next-Generation Sequencing Summit in Silver Spring, Maryland. Attendees included representatives from the GEIS network of global partner laboratories and other U.S. government agencies. AFHSD is a division of Defense Health Agency Public Health.

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Active Surveillance for Acute Respiratory Disease Detected No Outbreaks at Four U.S. Army Basic Training Installations in 2022

This article presents the 2022 results of the active surveillance program for acute respiratory disease and Group A Beta-Hemolytic Streptococcus conducted by the Defense Centers for Public Health-Aberdeen at the four Army installations responsible for basic combat training or one-station unit training. This ARD surveillance program rapidly monitors, ...

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Case Report: Complicated Urinary Tract Infection Due to an Extensively Resistant Escherichia coli in a Returning Traveler

This article presents the medical case report of a 76-year-old man who returned to the U.S. following overseas travel and was admitted at Hawai'i's Tri­pler Army Medical Center with a complicated urinary tract infection due to an extensively resistant strain of E. coli.

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MSMR Vol. 30 No. 8 - August 2023

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The August 2023 MSMR provides the most recent data from the active surveillance program for acute respiratory disease and Group A Beta-Hemolytic Streptococcus among U.S. Army basic trainees; then summarizes the case report of an extensively resistant E. coli in a returning traveler at Hawai'i's Tripler Army Medical Center; followed by a Surveillance ...

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Absolute and Relative Morbidity Burdens Attributable to Various Illnesses and Injuries Among Non-Service Member Beneficiaries of the Military Health System, 2022

This report represents an updated summary of care provided to non-service members in the MHS during calendar year 2022. MHS beneficiaries are diverse and heterogeneous, including active component service members, activated National Guard and Reserve service members, active component immediate family, retirees, and their family members, with differing ...

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Medical Evacuations out of U.S. Central and U.S. Africa Command Among Active and Reserve Components, U.S. Armed Forces, 2022

This report summarizes the nature, numbers, and trends of conditions for which military members were medically evacuated from the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) or Africa Central Command (AFRICOM) operations during 2022, with historical comparisons to the previous four years.

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Morbidity Burdens Attributable to Various Illnesses and Injuries Among Deployed Active and Reserve Component Service Members, U.S. Armed Forces, 2022

This annual estimate of illness- and injury-related morbidity and health care burdens on the U.S. Armed Forces and MHS updates previous analyses of these burden distributions among active and reserve component service members in deployed settings. This report focuses on the health encounters of service members during deployment to U.S. Central Command ...

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MSMR Vol. 30 No. 7 - July 2023

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This continuation of the June issue, which published the annual quantification of health care provided by the Military Health System, continues with the impacts of various illnesses and injuries in 2022 among deployed service members; medical evacuations out of theaters of military operation; health care provision to non-service member MHS ...

Last Updated: February 12, 2024
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