Transcript No Slide Title

The Public Health Knowledge Base
Public Health Web Resources
Ginny Tanji
Karyn Pomerantz
Overview:
Public Health Web Resources

Community Health, Social Determinants, and Health
Policy & Services

Social Inequalities
– Income Inequalities
– Racial Disparities

Epidemiology/Biostatistics, Environmental Health,
Health Promotion and PH Metasites Epidemiology,
Biostatistics

Major Statistical Sources
Overview:
Public Health Web Resources

Textbooks, Papers, Tutorials

Environmental Health
– Federal Agencies
– Databases
– Tutorials

Health Promotion

Public Health Metasites

Identifying New Public Health Websites
Social Determinants of Health

Information on the broad factors that influence health

Inequalities in health
– Economic inequities
– Racism
– Women’s status

Community health indicators and data on social
determinants of health

Policy and advocacy sites
Bibliography on Social Determinants

MLA’s Public Health/Health Admin Section Newsletter
– http://www.phha.mlanet.org/phhanews/inequality.html

Health and social inequalities

Excellent source to key:
– articles
– web sites
– associations
– statistical sources
Introduction to the Social
Determinants of Health

From the World Health Organization (WHO)
– http://www.who.dk/healthy-cities/determ.htm

Short pamphlet, “Solid Facts,” in multiple
languages

Covers key determinants of health - from
income disparities to social support
Community Health Indicators:
Measuring Social Determinants

Community Health Status Indicators Project
from HRSA
– http://www.communityhealth.hrsa.gov

Search for county level data on
demographics, life expectancy, death and
birth measures

Comparisons with similar counties
Healthy People 2010

467 health objectives with emphasis on
eliminating health disparities

Leading indicators include physical activity,
substance abuse, sexual behavior, mental health, environmental
health, access to health care

Search by state and health indicator
– http://wonder.cdc.gov/data2010/
Income Inequalities:

Health and Income Equity Site from the University of
Washington
– http://depts.washington.edu/eqhlth/

“... devoted to providing the background scientific
evidence that demonstrates & seeks to explain the
association between income inequality and health.”

Good collection of papers on this issue, including
criticisms, a glossary, and further links.
Inequality in Income and
Wealth

Inequality.org
– http://www.inequality.org

Journalistic reports on growing gaps in
income and wealth

Excellent set of links on this topic for data and
advocacy
Racial and Ethnic Disparities
in Health

Differentials in health status: life expectancy,
infant mortality, distribution of disease

Differentials in access to health care,
insurance coverage, utilization of medical
procedures

Debate re “race” (biological concept) vs.
racism (social, political and economic
concept)-
“present-day inequalities between so-called "racial"
groups are not consequences of their biological
Inheritance but products of historical and
contemporary social, economic, educational, and
political circumstances.”
Office of Minority Health

Statistical data on health disparities

Publications from federal and non-federal
sources

Information on access to care

Conferences
– http://www.omhrc.gov/
Bureau of the Census
“Minority Links”

Social Data: age, disability, insurance,
education, women, child care

Economic Data: income, poverty, business,
child support

News releases
– http://www.census.gov/pubinfo/www/hotlinks.html
US Initiative to Eliminate Racial
and Ethnic Disparities in Health

Data on major conditions: infant mortality,
diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer,
HIV, immunization

Reports

Funding sources

Other web sites: cultural competency...
– http://raceandhealth.hhs.gov/
Women of Color Health Data
Book from HHS

Health messages regarding physical activity,
nutrition, body image, pregnancy

English and Spanish

Women’s health statistics

News and reports on women’s health
– http://www.4woman.gov/
International Health Data:
Mortality, Diseases, Population

WHO Statistical Information Service
– http://www.who.int/whosis/

Rich collection of statistical data on burden of
disease, conditions

Papers on health equity and health policy
Analysis and Bibliographies on
Scientific Racism:
Eugenics, Health, Reproductive Rights

http://racescience.mit.edu/racesci/

Bibliographies and syllabi on issues of
academic racism: intelligence, sociobiology,
gender issues

Counters historical and current arguments
that behavior is color-coded
Analysis, Policy, and Action

Web sites that analyze social aspects
of health

…propose public policy strategies

…advocate action to change social
conditions
NICHSR: Health Policy Sites

NLM’s National Information Center for
Health Services Research and
Technology Assessment
– http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/hsrsites.html

Excellent resource for sites on health
economics, health policy, and data
Electronic Policy Network:
Links to Liberal Social Policy

Electronic Policy Network
– http://www.epn.org

Policy positions on welfare, employment,
health, criminal justice

Good selection of links to sites on health
policy
Families USA

Promotes issues of health care access,
Medicaid reform, children’s health
– http://www.familiesusa.org
Community Toolbox

Kit for community organizing and development
– http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/

Community development strategies

Bilingual research-based recommendations for
coalition building, program evaluation,
advocacy techniques, and more!
Radical Social
Analysis
www.neravt.com/left/
www.plp.org
http://www.igc.org/igc/gateway/index.html
Epidemiology & Biostatistics

CDC (Centers for Disease Control &
Prevention)
– http://www.cdc.gov/

Health topics A-Z

GIS and Public Health (Geographic Information
Systems)
– http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/otheract/gis/gis_home.htm
Epidemiology & Biostatistics

National Guideline Clearinghouse
– http://www.guideline.gov/index.asp

Full-text evidence-based practice guidelines
various diseases

Sponsored by Agency for Healthcare Policy
Research/AMA, Association of Healthcare
Plans
Major Statistical Sources

National Center for Health Statistics
– http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/

CDCWonder
– Public health datasets available for
searching such as specific Healthy People
Objectives, by state, etc.
– http://wonder.cdc.gov/
Textbooks, Papers, Tutorials

Finding and Using Health Statistics
– Self-study course from NICHSRHCT
– http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/usestats/index.htm

“How to Read a Paper” series from BMJ
– http://www.bmj.com/collections/read.shtml
Environmental Health:
Federal Agencies, Databases

National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences
– http://www.niehs.nih.gov/

Environmental Protection Agency
– http://www.epa.gov/

Toxnet
– http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/
Health Promotion

CHID (Combined Health Information Database)
– http://chid.nih.gov/

Healthfinder
– http://www.healthfinder.gov/

Prevline National Clearinghouse for Alcohol & Drug
Info
– http://www.health.org/

Tufts Nutrition Navigator
– navigator.tufts.edu/index.html
Public Health Metasites

ASTHO
– http://www.astho.org/

Public Health Foundation
– http://www.phf.org/

WWW Virtual Library: Public Health
– http://www.ldb.org/vl/index.htm

WWW Library: Epidemiology
– http://www.epibiostat.ucsf.edu/epidem/epidem.html
Identifying New Public Health
Websites

Public Health Foundation see e-news
– http://www.phf.org/

Medicine on the Net (print & online pub)
– http://www.corhealth.com/

Pub Health/Health Admin Section, MLA
– http://www.phha.mlanet.org/

Scout Report
– http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
Search Strategies

Consider the type of information you require
and the site that might have it

Use the search engine on that specific site

All purpose internet search engine

Keywords/synonyms
Search Engines to Consider

Google
– http://www.google.com/

For information from a government agency
– FirstGov
• http://www.firstgov.gov/
– Google/unclesam
• http://www.google.com/unclesam
PH Internet Resources

Sampling of resources available and of
topics of interest in public health

Diverse workforce, with diverse subject
areas

We hope that we have provide you with
a starting point.
Case Study Instructions

Packet contains some sample case studies

Try those of greatest interest to you

Reconvene to share results

Review the what strategies worked and what
did not.