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 SocialAnalysis

www.plp.org

www.neravt.com/left/

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.