2021 Annual Report to Congress

The 2021 Annual Report to Congress summarizes the work of the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) from fiscal year 2021 (October 1, 2020 September 30, 2021) and includes the following:

  • Nine recommendations and findings for intervention approaches that address heart disease and stroke prevention, HIV prevention, nutrition and physical activity, or physical activity
  • Three economic reviews of previously recommended interventions that address asthma, health equity, or heart disease and stroke prevention

The report lists critical evidence gaps identified by the systematic reviews and highlights the priority topics CPSTF selected to guide future reviews from 2020 to 2025.

In this report, CPSTF also features the topic of children’s mental health. CPSTF recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges for children that can be stressful and that health inequities may increase barriers to accessing mental health care. School-based programs, such as those recommended by CPSTF, can help improve children’s access to mental health services.

Cover of the 2021 CPSTF Annual Report to Congress

CPSTF is a panel of public health and prevention experts appointed by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its members represent a broad range of local, state, and national research, practice, and policy expertise in community preventive services, public health, health promotion, and disease prevention.

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of CPSTF and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

The work of the Community Preventive Services Task Force complements that of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) which makes recommendations about the effectiveness of clinical preventive services and health promotion. Taken together, the recommendations of the two task forces provide our nation with knowledge of how health is improved by prevention in both clinical and community settings.

Cover of the 2021 USPSTF Annual Report to CongressEleventh Annual Report to Congress on High-Priority Evidence Gaps for Clinical Preventive Services

The 11th Annual Report to Congress on High-Priority Evidence Gaps for Clinical Preventive Services calls attention to high-priority research gaps related to health equity from recent recommendations on cardiovascular disease and cancer prevention. This report is part of the Task Force’s long-standing commitment to advancing health equity.