Tech opens tribe's access to medical data
- By Judi Hasson
- Nov 14, 2000
The National Institutes of Health is reaching out to close the digital divide
by helping American Indians get medical information online.
In the latest in a series of projects to connected underserved populations
to the Internet, the National Library of Medicine is installing eight computers
with high-speed Internet access at the American Indian Cultural Center in
About 8,000 members of the Piscataway Indian tribe live in southern
Maryland. The population includes many people with high blood pressure and
diabetes who don't have regular access to medical information.
"The NIH has created a number of Web sites with a wealth of good consumer
health information," said Yvonne Maddox, acting NIH deputy director. "This
facility is an important step in reducing health disparities and in improving
the health status of an at-risk population by providing information."
NIH is the latest federal agency to launch programs targeted at those
who do not have easy access to computers or the Internet. Other agencies
with such programs include the departments of Commerce, Education, Agriculture
and Housing and Urban Development.