Criteria to keep in mind when choosing and using soures:
Accuracy - Does the author cite her/his sources and are they legitimate?
Authority - Who wrote the source? Are they credible?
Objectivity - Does the author have a bias, political or commercial or persuasive?
Currency - Is this information new or based on outdated sources? Can you tell how current it is?
Massachusetts & U.S. Resources
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) - Provides overviews organized by health topic
Healthy People - provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. Find information about health disparities for specific racial/ethnic, sex, and age groups. Also includes information about prevention strategies and other public health interventions.
Boston Public Health Commission - Information about health concerns specific to the Boston area, as well as local public health initiatives.
Massachusetts Department of Public Health - Tip: Scroll down the main page to access the A-Z Subject Index
American Public Health Association - you can find reports and information resources in the Advocacy & Policy section of the site.
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services: Office of Minority Health - Use tabs across the top to access health profiles and reports for various U.S. minority populations and health topics
National Library of Medicine: Health Services Research & Public Health Information Programs
New York Academy of Medicine Grey Literature Report (What is grey literature?)
Guide to Community Preventive Services
Ethnomed: Integrating Cultural Information into Clinical Practice
Health Services Research Information Central: Health Disparities Links to data, resources, and organizations addressing health disparities
CDC: Community Health Status Indicators Provides overview of health indicators for every county in the United States
Global Health
Pan-American Health Organization - PAHO is the specialized organization for health of the Inter-American System. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization and enjoys international recognition as part of the United Nations system.
World Health Organization - For epidemiological information, consult the Epidemiology section of the site. You can also consult the Global Health Observatory for data and analysis on global health concerns.
UNAIDS - the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. From this site, you can access data and analysis of the AIDS epidemic. The AIDSInfo section of the site is helpful for country-specific epidemiological information.
