The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is on the cusp of leveraging Blockchain technology to tackle the challenge of data management.

Speaking to Technology Review Monday, the organization’s Center of Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services chief software architect Jim Nasr said Blockchain was made for health data:

“Public health and Blockchain really do belong together.”

Nasr and a dedicated team have been researching possible use cases for Blockchain within the CDC’s remit of disease monitoring for several months. Next year, the first applications could roll out.

The US investigative noises mark the latest members of the Blockchain healthcare bandwagon, which has accrued interest from state organs in countries across the world from China to Estonia.

In the former, even Alibaba has got involved, teaming up with local authorities to secure data via its Ali Health extension in a Chinese first.

Estonia, meanwhile, is well known for its approach to healthcare data security using Blockchain.

Cross-institution data transfer meanwhile is similarly a key forecast use for the CDC, Nasr says, helping solve what Technology Review precise as a “massively complicated data-management challenge.” He added: