Research Needs for the Improvements of Military Deployment Health, A Strategic Plan, Draft, November 1997

Book excerpt: The purpose of the research strategy described in this document is to develop a sharper and more targeted focus on research that will ultimately lead to improvements in the long-term health status of members of the military who are deployed to different parts of the world to carry out the military mission of the United States. The research strategy broadly focuses on four areas: (1) assessments of deployment-related health outcomes; (2) assessments of deployment-related exposures; (3) research on relationships between deployment-related exposures; and (4) research on high priority deployment-related risk factors. The plan describes objectives and strategies for the six goals: (1) the U.S. government will have the capability to systematically collect population-based demographic and health data to enable longitudinal evaluation of the health of all service personnel (Active Duty, Reservist, National Guard) throughout their military career and after leaving military service; (2) the U.S. government will have the capability to collect and assess data associated with anticipated exposures during deployments; (3) the U.S. government will have the capability to monitor deployments for the appearance of novel or unanticipated health threats and to quickly deploy assets to collect and assess data relevant to any newly identified threats; (4) the U.S. government will have the coordinated capability to use exposure and health outcome data to determine whether deployment-related exposures are associated with post-deployment health outcomes; (5) develop balanced research programs targeted improved prevention, intervention, and treatment strategies for priority health risk factors; and (6) establish a wide-range of national and military collaborative research relationships to enhance these efforts.