Annotated Bibliography: Internet Resources

VI. Health Promotion Web Sites

Internet is a global computer network that enables people to share information. For example, electronic mail (E-mail) on the Internet allows individuals to send messages around the world, while the World Wide Web (or WWW or Web as it is also known) links the various information resources or sites on the Internet. To access Web sites, you need to know the site's Internet address called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). To learn more about the Internet, check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Guide to the Internet at the following URL:
EFF's (Extended) Guide to the Internet...
(This is Version 2.3, published in September 1994)
http://www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eegttitop.html
To assist health professionals access relevant resources on the Internet, this bibliography includes a number of Web sites. These Web sites are organized as follows:
    i. Web Search Sites
    These Web sites provide access to tools called search engines that enable you to search for relevant information on the Web.

    ii. Health Organizations on the Web
    Lists some of the major health organizations and/or health promotion programmes.

    iii. Collection Web Sites
    A number of organizations have developed collections of Web resources. Using these collections of links can reduce your search time. This section provides access to Web site collections relevant to health promotion.

    iv. Electronic Publications
    Provides a link to a searchable list of Web-based journals and newsletters.

    v. Listservs
    Listservs are online discussion groups that communicate via E-mail. Once you join a listserv, you receive and respond to discussion items via your E-mail account. This section provides information on listservs relevant to health promotion.

    vi. Additional Web sites

Note: On the Web version of this bibliography, you will be able to link directly to the Web sites.


i. Web Search Sites

Internet search engines allow you to search for information on the Web using words or phrases.
The following Web site provides access to the major Internet search engines, and to a number of Web-based databases. This site is a good place to start a search of the Web for health and/or other topics:
General Web Search
http://www.isleuth.com/

Access to health related databases is provided on the following site:
Health Databases
http://www.isleuth.com/heal.html

Access to search engines and databases organized by country is provided on the following site:
Search Engines by Country
http://www.vds.com.au/steve/search/search3.html


ii. Health Organizations on the Web


The World Health Organization/Organisation Mondiale de la Sante
http://www.who.ch
http://wwwhq.who.or.jp/
The World Health Organization Web site provides information on WHO programmes, activities, offices, staff, and publications. The Web site also provides access to the WHO Library Catalogue [ http://www-pll.who.ch/programmes/pll/hlt/hlt_index.html].

A number of WHO sites are particularly relevant to health promotion, including:


The World Health Organization - Public Information
Organisation mondiale de la Sante - Information publique

http://www.who.ch/programmes/inf/pub-inf_noframes.htm

Provides contact information on WHO regional offices, and links to WHO Public Health fact sheets and press releases and the World Health Report 1997.

World Health Organization Projects, Activities and Initiatives in Health Promotion
http://who.ultralab.anglia.ac.uk/
Outlines the WHO approach to health promotion, and provides a link to the Web site for the 4th International Conference on Health Promotion - New Players for a New Era: Leading Health Promotion in the 21st Century.

Health for All in the 21st Century
http://www.who.ch/programmes/ppe/index.htm
Provides links to the WHO Health for All policy statement and other relevant documents.

WHO Healthy Cities Project
http://www.who.dk/tech/hcp/index.htm
The Healthy Cities project was started by the WHO's Regional Office for Europe. The aim of the project is to "enhance the physical, mental, social and environmental wellbeing of the people who live and work in [the] cities." This Web site includes links to WHO collaborating centres for healthy cities, relevant documents and healthy city projects around the world.

WHO Terminology Information System
http://pllwww.who.ch/programmes/pll/ter/wt001.html
Provides access to the WHO Terminology Information System (WHOTERM) for the subject Health Promotion.

World Health Organization: 4th International Conference on Health Promotion
New Players for a New Era: Leading Health Promotion in the 21st Century

http://rubble.ultralab.anglia.ac.uk/contents.html
Provides conference information and a link to the conference online forum.

Departemen Kesehatan Republik Indonesia/Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia
http://www.depkes.go.id/
This is the Web site for The Ministry of Health in the Republic of Indonesia - location of the 4th International Conference on Health Promotion - New Players for a New Era: Leading Health Promotion in the 21st Century

Pan American Health Organization
http://www.paho.org//
The Pan American Health Organization Web site provides links to Pan publications, and to various health and social development programmes and resources around the world.

Health Promotion Information Centre (HPiC)
http://www.hea.org.uk/hpic/hpic.html
The main information centre for the Health Education Authority in England, the HPiC "holds the most comprehensive collection of health promotion and health education materials in Europe." The catalogue for the collection is accessible via the Web.

Centre for Health Promotion, University of Toronto
http://www.utoronto.ca/chp/
A WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion, the Centre for Health Promotion is an extra-departmental unit at the Medical School at the University of Toronto. This Web site provides information on the centre's programs and publications.


iii. Collection Web Sites


The Global Health Network
http://www.pitt.edu/HOME/GHNet/GHNet.html
The Global Health Network provides links to a variety of health related Internet sites including health networks and public health organizations, and provides links to health resources organized by subject. Some information is available in Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and/or German.

Health Stats Online
http://online.anu.edu.au/nceph/health-stats-online/welcome.html
Health Stats Online provides links to CDCWONDER (which provides access to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, guidelines, and public health data), and to WHO statistics. Health Stats Online is a joint initiative of the Australian National University's National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, and Prometheus Information Systems, with the support of the ANU's Coombs Computing Unit and the ANU Centre for Networked Information and Publishing (CNIP).

International Health Resources
http://www.comnet.ca/~tikhonov/csih/
"The purpose of this page is to provide convenient and fast access to the Internet information for people who work in the area of international health. This project is encouraged by the Canadian Society for International Health."...and is maintained by Constantine Tikhonov, MHA Candidate (1996), University of Ottawa.

Karolinska Institutet: Department of Public Health Sciences
Health Promotion: Research Internet Network

http://www.ki.se/phs/hprin/main.htm
The Karolinska Institutet's Department of Public Health Sciences' Health Promotion Web site provides links to Health Promotion Research Centres, Schools of Public Health, and Health Promotion/Public Health Internet resources in Canada, the USA, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The site also provides links to Internet resources organized by topic, for example, evidence based health, medical informatics, journals, statistical packages and conferences.

SatelLife
http://www.healthnet.org/
"SatelLife is an international not-for-profit organization employing satellite, telephone and radio networking technology to serve the health communication and information needs of countries in the developing world" SatelLife provides profiles on countries in Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America and Oceania, including links to WWW, FTP, and Gopher Servers in those countries.

WWW Virtual Library: Public Health
http://www.ldb.org/vl/index.htm
An excellent site with hundreds of links to public health projects all over the world.



iv. Electronic Publications

Emory MEDWEB Electronic Publications
http://www.gen.emory.edu/MEDWEB/keyword/electronic_publications.html
An excellent collection site of health science Electronic Journals and Newsletters, indexed by subject. Maintained by the Emory University Health Sciences Center Library, Georgia, USA.


v. Listservs

Listservs are online discussion groups through which participants communicate via email. Once you join a listserv, you receive and respond to discussion items via your email account.

CLICK4HP
http://www.web.net/~stirling/#online

The list was started in May 1996 as: 1. an electronic venue for discussing how the Internet can be used for health promotion in Canada and around the globe; 2. an electronic site for posting related health promotion information; and, 3. a virtual workplace for health promoters to work together. This e-list has 400+ subscribers from around the world addressing a wide diversity of topics related to health promotion in practice. To join CLICK4HP Send email to listserv@yorku.ca, leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message write only SUBSCRIBE CLICK4HP <your name> (if you have a signature file, suppress it). Please address any questions to Alison Stirling (alison@opc.on.ca), Liz Rykert (lrykert@web.net) or Sam Lanfranco (lanfran@yorku.ca).

HEALTH-FOR-ALL
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists-f-j/health-for-all/
An international forum for discussion, collaboration, sharing ideas and information, and the dissemination of research and practice in support of the aims and principles of the World Health Organization's Health For All initiative. To join HEALTH-FOR-ALL send email to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message write only Join health-for-all <your name> (if you have a signature file, suppress it). For any queries relating to the list, contact the owner at: health-for-all-request@mailbase.ac.uk

HEALTH-PROMOTION
http://sokrates.mip.ki.se/cgi-bin/lwgate/HEALTH-PROMOTION
This is an international collaborative effort to promote Health Promotion Research. The objectives for the Health Promotion List-serve are: 1. To establish an international forum of people interested in Health Promotion Research discussions on Internet; and 2. To discuss present status of Health Promotion Research (HPR) around the world and the main challenges for HPR in the 21st Century. Examples of issues for discussion are: framework for health promotion evaluation, investment for health, creating supportive environments for health, quality in health promotion and health care reform and health promotion. To join HEALTH PROMOTION send email to listserv@sokrates.mip.ki.se leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message write only sub HEALTH-PROMOTION <your name> (if you have a signature file, suppress it) If you have any questions about the HEALTH-PROMOTION list, write to the list owners at the generic address: HEALTH-PROMOTION-Request@SOKRATES.MIP.KI.SE

HEALTHY CITIES DISCUSSION FORUMS
http://www.healthycities.org/fora/welcome.htm
Not strictly LISTSERVs. The discussions are organized and managed by the working groups within the Coalition for Healthier Cities and Communities. Currently there are 6 searchable forums: Emerging Initiatives; Faith Community; Learning as We Go; Partnerships; Policy Action; and, Spreading the Word. The discussion thread can be accessed through the web site or you can arrange email notification from each forum. Any questions can be directed to info@healthycities.org.

PUBLIC-HEALTH AND EPIDEMIOLOGY
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/public-health/
This list provides a discussion forum and information resource for those working in epidemiology and public health. It aims to facilitate information sharing, (eg workshops, seminars, conferences and new research) and promote links, collaborative working, joint problem-solving and mutual support. To join Public-Health send email to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message write only Join public-health <your name> (if you have a signature file, suppress it). Please address any questions to public-health-request@mailbase.ac.uk

SOCHEALTH
SocHealth was established in 1993 by the Health Sociology Research Group at La Trobe University, Australia as an electronic newsletter for health social scientists with the aim of minimising the effects of distance and improving networking. SocHealth is free and relies on the contributions of subscribers to function. The newsletter is published every 5 to 8 weeks depending on the amount of material available. There are no guarantees, stated or implied, about the accuracy of information supplied. To Subscribe send an email to: listserv@lugb.latrobe.edu.au In the body of the message put the text: Subscribe SocHealth <your name> Leave the subject line blank. If you have a signature file, suppress it. To remove your subscription send email to listserv@lugb.latrobe.edu.au In the body of the message put the text: signoff SocHealth


To search for other online discussion groups, use the following directory:

The Directory of Scholarly and Professional E-Conferences
http://www.n2h2.com/KOVACS/index.html

Compiled and maintained by Diane Kovaks and team, this Web site provides a searchable directory of electronic conferences on the Internet.


vi. Additional Web Sites

Centre for Advancement of Health Online Resource:
International Health Care Research Guide

http://www.health.ucalgary.ca/
The Centre for Advancement of Health provides advice to and promotes collaboration between health researchers in the Calgary Health Region (Alberta, Canada). The Centre's Website provides links to a number of health resources, including links to international health care research sites and projects (note: the focus is North America, Europe and Australia).

Centre for Applied Health Research (CAHR)
http://healthy.uwaterloo.ca/~cahr/
The Centre for Applied Health Research (CAHR), based at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada) was established in 1984. It provides a vehicle for 70+ research members from widely varying disciplines to collaborate on applied health problems.

Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse
http://www.opc.on.ca/
OPC supports health promotion and prevention activities across Ontario, and maintains a resource centre. The OPC Website provides information links to programs and publications, as well as links to Internet resources in the areas of health promotion, community development, children & youth, social development and justice, and organizational change. A collection of health related sites prepared for the Centre for Health Promotion's Consolidation of Evidence on the Effectiveness of Health Promotion Workshop in May 1997 is now available on the Web site. http://www.opc.on.ca/opc/healthpromo/dbanglist.html