The Public Health Service yesterday launched the National Women's Health Information Center, a combination Web site and toll-free hotline.
The Web site, www.4woman.gov, includes a database and links to more than 1,000 publications, federal agency sites, and government-screened private sector organizations related to women's health. The hotline, 1-800-994-WOMAN, connects callers to health information specialists and allows them to order fact sheets and brochures.
"This information center represents the federal government's most comprehensive resource for women's health," Health and Human Services secretary Donna Shalala said, adding, "With a few strokes on a computer keyboard, or a toll-free call, women and their health care providers can open the door to a world of important medical information resources."
Surgeon General David Satcher added, "This new service represents the fastest and easiest way to locate important information on women's health."
Wanda Jones, director of the Public Health Service's office on women's health, said, "Women today are inundated with health information from a variety of media sources. It is comforting to know that there is now one reliable place to go for information that can be trusted."
The women's health site complements HHS' Healthfinder, a general health site that provides American citizens with a single point of access for online health information.
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