FactLine:Health Information about the Poor and Underserved
Three years ago the Meharry Medical College Institute on Health Care for the Poor and Underserved won NLM support over a three-year period (2004-2007) to create a web site that would serve as a primary resource of information on health care issues affecting the medically underserved. Factline is up and running.
FactLine: Health Information about the Poor and Underserved presents statistics, figures, research findings, and policy proposals as contained in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication (produced by the Institute) that has received international recognition as an academically sound collective of public health research. Most importantly, the information contained in the site will be fashioned to reflect the health care objectives as outlined in the U.S Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy People 2010 Objectives.
The site, http://www.meharry.org/Fl/index.html, presents concise but comprehensive information on relevant topics in capsule form suitable for reading on the Internet. It is organized into five major areas: Access to Health, Mental Health, Minority Health, Women’s Health, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. It enables users to further pursue any topic covered on the site through embedded search mechanisms that trigger searches of either professional medical literature (via a MEDLINE search) or of the mass media (such as Science Times, Newsweek, or Health magazines). FactLine enhances the access of health professionals, researchers, policy makers, educators, and the general public to the medical and public health literature. It is poised to play a pivotal part in eliminating disparities in health care and improving health care access. A Spanish-language version of the site is also available at http://www.meharry.org/Fl/Spanish/index.html.
