What is AZHealthInfo.org?

AZHealthInfo.org is affiliated with the national Turning Point Initiative. The national Turning Point Initiative aims to transform and strengthen the public health system in the United States by making it more community based and collaborative. Turning Point in Arizona works collaboratively with communities and key partners to improve the public's health and promote sound public health policies. The project addresses public health workforce development needs, information dissemination, disparities in health status, and public health advocacy and seeks to make the public health system in Arizona more effective and responsive to community concerns and issues.

How is it improving public health?

• Provides workforce development for frontline public health workers through training and technical assistance in an "Academy Without Walls" to strengthen the public health workforce.
• Increase direct access to public health information through the creation of Public Health Information Centers in public libraries, local health departments, and tribal service centers, providing access to public health information and building working relationships between libraries and local health departments.
• Assess local county and tribal public health workforce competencies in partnership with the Arizona Local Health Officers' Association by implementing The Public Health Competency Handbook, an assessment and evaluation tool for local health departments to improve public health competency of individuals and organizations.
• Provide skill building and knowledge to local communities about how to advocate for their own health needs and encourage community participation in statewide public health planning.

What can it do to help you?

• Address public health policies and priorities identified by a planning group of more than 100 individuals representing state and local community partners.
• Access opportunities to engage in community dialogue about promoting, protecting, and preserving the public's health.
• Provide up-to-date information about emerging public health issues and link individuals, communities, and organizations to public health experts.

AZHealthInfo Selection Policy and Standards

AZHealthInfo contains pages that link to other Web sites. Its primary purpose is educational. We pre-evaluate links for proper documentation, including site sponsorship, authorship, and author affiliation. AZHealthInfo generally emulates the collection-development guidelines and quality controls used by MedlinePlus. We consider indicators of quality, appropriateness, authority, statements of purpose, and evidence of currency and maintenance. AZHealthInfo site-selectors avoid sites that have commercial content, that use advertising, or that require registration. Links are made only to sites that are free and openly accessible to the public. AZHealthInfo contains no licensed content. While readability is considered, AZHealthInfo serves both health professionals and the community at large. Therefore, some links are intended for a professional audience. Selection preference is given to Web sites that contain Arizona-related information. Inclusion of a Web link does not imply endorsement by the Arizona Health Sciences Library. Application of these guidelines and any exception thereto are the responsibility of the AZHealthInfo editors. The date "last updated" indicates when information was added to or removed from a given page. All topics are systematically reviewed at least annually. Users are advised that AZHealthInfo is a work-in-progress.