Information on global health conditions online is quite extensive, though it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Created and operated by the Kaiser Family Foundation (with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), the Global Health Policy site is designed for journalists and the general public. The site is a frequently-updated and high-quality resource on information about...

Open-access peer-reviewed journals continue to grow in number and in scope, and those dealing with the future of public health are no exception. One of the latest is Globalization and Health, which provides “a platform for research, knowledge sharing and debate on the topic of globalization and its effects on health, both positive and negative.” With such a broad range, it is no surprise that the...

Some readers may be wondering aloud: "Who is Alice, and why do I want to ask her anything?� Well, "Alice" is in fact a team of Columbia University health educators, health care providers, and specialists from health-related organizations worldwide. "Alice" was created in 1993 at Columbia, and is one of the longest-running health question and answer websites. As one might surmise, the site...

Harvard University's School of Public Health has a number of online outreach websites that address such topics as alcohol use among college students and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in the developing world. These topics and many others are covered in detail in the Harvard Public Health Review, which is available on this site. One of the more recent issues addressed public health concerns in...

The Mayo Clinic has a terrific public outreach program, and this website provides a rich array of materials that deal with common and uncommon medical conditions. The Healthy Lifestyle area contains a range of tools and information for a healthy lifestyle. The sections include Healthy Lifestyle Topics, Life Stages, and Healthy Recipes. Within each section, visitors will find multimedia clips,...

From the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), this website presents the 2004 Holiday Lectures on Science Series. The Series is titled the Science of Fat, and the site includes four webcast lectures by Drs. Ronald M. Evans and Jeffrey M. Friedman of the HHMI. Lecture titles include Deconstructing Obesity; Understanding Fat: Syndrome X and Beyond; Balancing the Fat Equation; and Exploring...

Every year, many policy specialists and government officials eagerly await the annual Human Development Report issued by the United Nations Development Programme. Released in early November 2006, this year’s report was primarily focused on the issue of water, and they remarked that, “unclean water is an immeasurably greater threat to human security that violent conflict.” Within its 440 page, the...

With a broad mission, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are involved in everything from disaster response and management to capacity building all over the globe. As one might expect, visitors to the site can learn about some of their more well-known programs in the "Get Involved" area on the homepage. Their homepage is also an excellent place to learn about some...

With headquarters in La Molina, Peru, the International Potato Center seeks to reduce poverty and achieve food security through research activities on not only the potato, but also on the sweet potato, and other root and tuber crops. The Center has a staff of scientists from 25 countries working on these pressing topics, and visitors with like-minded interests will appreciate the diversity of...

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has been committed to providing the general public with a number of high-quality print and online resources in recent years, and their collection of Patient Pages is quite thorough and most welcome. With over 390 entries, each Patient Page contains a basic overview of such topics as Lyme disease, dementia, lymphoma, and dozens of other...