Public Health

Helpful Public Health Websites

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Massachusetts Health and Human Services
Dartmouth Atlas of Health
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
ClinicalTrials.gov
HealthCare.gov
Medicare.gov
Healthy People 2030
Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce
RAND Corporation
Public Health Agency of Canada
CDC Public Health Image Library
CDC Disease Maps
HealthData.gov
Data.gov - Health Section
Disaster Lit: Resources Guide for Disaster Medicine & Public Health
"Documents include expert guidelines, research reports, conference proceedings, training classes, fact sheets, websites, databases, and similar materials selected from over 700 organizations for a professional audience."

Other Online Resources

Hear Our Stories
Led by members of the UMass Amherst faculty, this program uses digital storytelling to examine sexual and reproductive health disparities among young parenting Latinas in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Information is Beautiful
Creates colorful visualizations with various types of data. Categories include health, climate and science.
Future of Public Health in the 21st Century
Free PDF of this book from the National Academies Press.
Health Services/Technology Assessment Texts (HSTAT)
Welcome to this free, Web-based resource of full-text documents that provide health information and support health-care decision making.
Effective Public Health Practice Project
The Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) is an expert team of researchers producing high-quality evidence synthesis documents, including systematic reviews, for health practitioners and decision makers in order to inform the planning and delivery of public health services in Canada.

Evaluating Websites

How can you tell whether information you find on the web is accurate? The following criteria can help you with evaluating web resources.

Accuracy: The domain (i.e. .com) can tell you a lot about a website. Sites can be .com (commercial), .edu (academic institutions), .gov (governmental), .mil (military), or .org (organization - usually non-commercial). Of these, .edu and .gov sites are the most trustworthy.

Objectivity: Is the site subjective (opinion-based) or objective (fact-based)?

Purpose:

Are the authors trying to sell you something? Convince you of something? Convey factual information?
Look for sections like "About Us" or "Mission Statement" to get a better idea of what the site is trying to do.
Some websites that appear to be informational and scholarly are actually sneakily trying to sell you something or have a hidden agenda, so you need to play detective and dig for clues about a site's true purpose.

Timeliness: Hunt around for a "last updated" statement. If it's been more than a year or two since the last update, it can be a clue that the site is not maintained very well.

Authority: Can you find out who the author of the content is? If so, is s/he an expert on the subject? Does the author leave contact information?

MORE on Evaluating Web Pages from UC Berkeley

National Library of Medicine's Selection Guidelines for Non-National Library of Medicine Resources

Professional Organizations

Public Health Matters Blog

Blog from the CDC:

"Sharing our stories on preparing for and responding to public health events"