The Institute on Health Care for the Poor and Underserved of Meharry Medical College is seeking support over a three-year period to create a web site that will serve as a primary resource of information on health care issues affecting the medically underserved. FactLine: Health Information about the Poor and Underserved will present 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's Healthy People 2010 Objectives, thus integrating specific research findings to issues concerning the underserved at the national level. The site will present concise but comprehensive information on relevant topics in capsule form suitable for reading on the Internet and enable the user to pursue further any topic covered on our site by means of embedded search mechanisms that will trigger searches of either professional medical literature (via a MEDLINE search) or of the mass media (such as Science Times, Newsweek, or Health magazines). By enhancing the access of health professionals, researchers, policy makers, educators, and the general public to the medical and public health literature, this project will play a pivotal part in eliminating disparities in health care and improving health care access. A Spanish-language version of the site will also be available. By doing so, we hope to alleviate the health care gaps this growing population of Americans face.
