Health Promotion and Education
The National Library of Medicine offers many public health resources.
PubMed: (http://pubmed.gov) provides access to the research and clinical literature in MEDLINE, and index of over 12 million references to biomedical journal articles.
MedlinePlus: (http://medlineplus.gov) has extensive patient education information, in both English and Spanish. Hundreds of health topics include drug information, interactive tutorials, encyclopedia, news, information about support groups, clinical trials, directories, and more.
AIDSInfo: (http://aidsinfo.nih.gov) provides current federally approved treatment guidelines for HIV infection and AIDS-related illnesses. HIV/AIDS-related clinical trials, web links, vaccine development, and drugs are also included.
Tox Town: (http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov) provides information that public health workers can use to teach about key topics in toxicology, environmental health and occupational health, such as lead poisoning, air pollution and pesticide dangers.
Household Products: (http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov) gives safety information for over 4,000 consumer brands of personal care, automotive, garden and cleaning products.
NCBI: (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/About/index.html) the National Center for Biotechnology Information, provides tutorials, public databases, and computational resources on how complex interactions among genes and environmental and lifestyle factors can lead to disease.
NN/LM: (http://nnlm.gov) the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, assists public health workers with training on these NLM databases and other web resources, providing speakers for educational programs or meetings, obtaining copies of journal articles, and identifying local health library resources.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): (http://www.ahrq.gov) This is the health services research arm of the US Department of Health and human Services. The “Consumers-Patient” options in the drop down menu on the left side of the page should have interest for the health educator for the materials that enable patients to make wise decisions concerning their healthcare.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC): (http://www.cdc.gov) This agency is widely recognized as the primary producer of knowledge bases in public health. Some of the resources available here are CDCWonder, CDC Data and Statistics. MMWR, Hazardous Substance/Health Effects Database and Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response.
Food and Drug Administration: (http://www.fda.gov) The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuming safety of drugs, medical devices, foods and cosmetics. The site contains information for consumers, patients, health professionals, health educators, state and local officials, kids, teens, women among many others.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): (http://www.epa.gov) This national agency’s website provides information on topics that include air, water, cleanup, climate change, compliance, pesticides, pollutants and ecosystems. The site also offers resources in Spanish.
World Health Organization (WHO): (http://www.who.int) A United Nations agency that provides health and disease information worldwide. The site offers information and resources in several languages.