Websites

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a not-for-profit, voluntary health organization funded by private contributions. Its mission is to reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke. The AHA recently adopted a Strategic Driving Force to provide reliable information to the American public on prevention and treatment of heart disease and stroke. To be successful, AHA seeks to be proficient in four Key Work Processes:

• Discover, interpret and process science.
• Develop and communicate consumer health information.
• Advocate the Association's positions to key audiences.
• Generate Resources

Information from the American Heart Association may be accessed at http://www.americanheart.org. *

An Ounce of Prevention This report provides information on cost/benefit analyses in public health planning. It outlines 19 strategies and demonstrates how spending money to prevent disease and injury and promote healthy lifestyles makes good economic sense. An Ounce of Prevention is located at http://www.cdc.gov/epo/prevent.htm.

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is the state-based surveillance system of the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). Active in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and three territories, it is the primary source of state-based information about risk behaviors among adult populations.

The BRFSS is designed to gather information from adults about their knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to various health issues:

• Health status and access to care
• Tobacco and alcohol use
• Dietary patterns
• Leisure time physical activities
• Injury control
• Women's health issues
• Use of preventive services
• HIV and AIDS
• Hypertension and cholesterol
• Models on cardiovascular disease and heart attack and stroke awareness are also collected by various states

Information about the BRFSS may be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/.

Beyond the Stoop: Community Programs to Promote Youth The Institute of Medicine, of the National Academies, developed this document to address public policy for youth community programs. More information about this document can be found at the Institute of Medicine's web site or by looking at the publications listed at the National Academies Press site.

• http://www.iom.edu/ *
• http://www.nap.edu/ *

CDC Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (HDSP) is located in the Division of Adult and Community Health of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. CVH activities include epidemiologic surveillance and research, intervention studies, and public health programs related to cardiovascular health. The Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention may be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/.

E-mail: ccdinfo@cdc.gov

CDC Wonder CDC Wonder is and easy-to-use system that provides a single point of access to a wide variety of CDC reports, guidelines, and numeric public health data. CDC wonder may be accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/.

Census Information To access the Statistical Abstract of the United States and other Census information, go to the U.S. Census Bureau at http://www.census.gov.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Main Site The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is composed of 11 Centers, Institutes, and Offices dedicated to promoting health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability through scientific inquiry. You can access the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.

Healthy People 2010 Healthy People 2010 is a national health promotion and disease prevention initiative that brings together national, state, and local government agencies; non-profit, voluntary, and professional organizations; businesses; communities; and individuals to improve the health of all Americans, eliminate disparities in health, and improve years and quality of healthy life. Healthy People 2010 may be accessed at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) is CDC's weekly forum that publishes articles on health topics and events and also disseminates state-reported surveillance data on new cases of reportable diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, or flu. You can access the MMWR at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/.

National Center for Health Statistics The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) makes available statistical information for a wide range of health problems. Through the NCHS web site, you can view and print out many published and unpublished reports. The NCHS web page also links to other web sites of federal and non-federal agencies that publish health data.

National Center for Health Statistics
3700 East-West Highway
Hyattsville, MD 20782
(301) 436-8500
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Chartbook The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Chartbook is a biennial compilation of data on the size and trends of morbidity and mortality from the cardiovascular, lung, and blood diseases. While most charts describe national prevalence, hospitalizations, and mortality statistics, some of them provide additional information by state or country. Risk factor estimates and the economic costs of these diseases are also included. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Chartbook may be accessed at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/resources/docs/cht-book.htm.

The National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health conducts research to acquire knowledge of prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and disability. The NIH is composed of 18 Institutes, six centers, and the National Library of Medicine. You can contact the NLH at http://www.nih.gov and the National Library of medicine at http://www.nlm.nih.gov.

National Library of Medicine To access bibliographic data bases, you can go to the National Library of Medicine's web site at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/index.html.

NHANES The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the CDC. This survey has been designed to collect information about the health and diet of people in the United States. NHANES is unique in that it combines a home interview with health tests which are done in a Mobile Exam Center. Information about NHANES may be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm.

Office of Minority Health The Office of Minority Health (OMH) was created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 1985. The mission of OMH is to improve the health of racial and ethnic populations through the development of effective health policies and programs that help to eliminate disparities in health. The main site of the OMH may be accessed at http://www.omhrc.gov.

Also included in this site are links to State Offices of Minority Health, the Office of Minority Health Resources Center, and various other links.

Other Agencies You may want to examine other agencies' web sites (e.g., Department of Health and Human Services: http://www.os.dhhs.gov Department of Justice: http://www.usdoj.gov National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.gov).

Roper Center for Public Opinion Research To find public opinion data, go to the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at the University of Connecticut http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu. *

Women and Heart Disease: An Atlas of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mortality Women and Heart Disease: An Atlas of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mortality was developed by the Office for Social Environment and Health Research at West Virginia University and the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at CDC to provide critical data on geographic, racial, and ethnic inequalities in women's heart disease death rates for the five major racial and ethnic groups. Local, state, and national level data are included with information to tailor heart-healthy programs and policies to the communities of women with the greatest burden of heart disease. You may access Women and Heart Disease: An Atlas of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mortality at: http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/library/maps/cvdatlas/atlas_womens/.

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) is a national, school-based survey conducted by CDC and state and local education agencies. The YRBSS provides vital information on risk behaviors among young people to more effectively target and improve health programs. One component of this system is the Youth Risk Behavior System (YRBS). Information about the YRBS may be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/index.htm.

Other Website Resources

Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum http://www.apiahf.org *

Association of Black Cardiologists (Note: This web site is best viewed in I.E.) http://www.abcardio.org *

Black Health Care http://www.blackhealthcare.com

Cross Cultural Health Care Program http://www.xculture.org *

Division of Disability and Health http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dh/

Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, CDC http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/gis.htm

Heart Failure Awareness Campaign http://www.abouthf.org *

International Society for Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB) http://www.ishib.org *

National Alliance of Hispanic Health http://www.hispanichealth.org/ *

National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease http://www.womenheart.org *

USPHS Indian Health Service/Office of Public Health and/or Office of Communications http://www.ihs.gov

Online Journals

American Heart Journal http://www.medscape.com/viewpublication/129_index

American Journal of Cardiology http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/5/2/5/0/4/8

American Journal of Epidemiology http://aje.oupjournals.org *

American Journal of Hypertension http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/5/0/5/7/4/2/index.htt

Medline Medline is the major index to articles from more than 4,600 biomedical journals from 1966 to present. Access Medline at http://www.pubmed.gov/

Documents

Health News health_news.jpg (JPG 91K)

Issues in Cross-Cultural Communication These documents, provided by the Office of Communication at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provide information about effective communication with diverse groups of individuals.

• CV-CrossculHuan2.pdf (PDF 1,088K)
• CV-culture.pdf (PDF 1,514K)
• CV-crosscult.resources.pdf (PDF 137K)
• CV-cross.cult.tool2.pdf (PDF 123K)
• CV-Top 10 things to know about cross.pdf (PDF 27K)
• CV-Crosscult.LITREVI2.pdf (PDF 687K)