Annual summary 1983.

Abstract

Over the years the MMWR has attempted to mirror the constantly changing panorama of public health concerns. The timeliness of articles appearing in the weekly publication assures the reader of immediate news on diseases, environmental situations, or other problems that have an impact on the nation's health. The weekly MMWR also reports current health trends and describes health initiatives being undertaken by CDC and the Public Health Service. Finally, it provides a running annual tally on reportable-disease-specific morbidity and mortality that serves as one gauge of the nation's health. It is, however, only by studying archival issues of the MMWR, such as the Annual Summary, and by looking at periodic publications, such as the Surveillance Summaries and supplements to the MMWR, that one becomes aware of the more gradual changes that have occurred in the content of the MMWR over time. Such a shift in emphasis, reflecting a major commitment by CDC and the Public Health Service, has occurred since publication in the fall of 1980 of Promoting Health/Preventing Disease: Objectives for the Nation.