About the National Women's Health Information Center
About the National Women's Health Information Center |
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First-Time Visitor?
About the National Women's Health Information Center Home > First Time Visitor
Frequently Asked Questions about the NWHIC Web Site
NWHIC is a service of the Office on Women's Health in the Department of Health and Human Services. OWH serves as a focal point within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to redress the inequities in health research, health care services, and public and health professional education that have placed the health of American women at risk. Part of OWH's mission is to coordinate women's health initiatives across the Department of Health and Human Services and to disseminate state-of-the-art information to women nationwide.
In the past, women have had no single place to turn for detailed information about the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the illnesses and health conditions that affect them. OWH developed the National Women's Health Information Center to fill these needs for simple, accessible, up to date, and accurate women's health information. NWHIC is designed to provide relevant women's health information to a variety of audiences, including consumers, health providers, and researchers.
NWHIC does not duplicate work undertaken by other Federal agencies, clearinghouses, or web sites. NWHIC staff has examined the wide range of women's health information available through the Federal government, and has compiled all that information in one place: the NWHIC web site. In so doing, a single site has been created that will allow access to relevant and timely information about women's health. These efforts have created a unique product that allows women to use a single location to get the health information they need, rather than spending hours searching the Internet and guessing where the relevant information is. Now you only have to remember one address: http://www.womenshealth.gov . . . NWHIC does the rest of the work for you.
As a Federal clearinghouse, NWHIC provides over 1,800 organization and 4,300 publication resources relating to women's health. Included is information on all major health concerns for women, prevention information for women, frequently asked questions about women's health, the latest news and calendar events pertaining to women's health and a "What about Men's Health?" section too! Information about the Office on Women's Health and its programs, and initiatives are accessible through the NWHIC web site as well.
Many health concerns covered on NWHIC are exclusive to women, such as ovarian cancer. Other health issues discussed at our site affect both men and women, but will be presented from a women's perspective. Women and men are at risk for many of the same health problems, but women might have unique concerns, such as "how will this affect my unborn child," or "will I react differently to my medication than a man would?"
The National Women's Health Information Center (NWHIC) web site (http://www.womenshealth.gov) provides information on over 800 different health topics important to women. Besides specialty sections of the web site on various women's health conditions and issues, such as Healthy Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, Violence Against Women, and Women with Disabilities, NWHIC also provides hundreds of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) fact sheets.
The original text in both the specialty sections and in the FAQs is written and updated according to the most reliable, current information in the field. NWHIC relies on current recommendations on health issues from the federal government and from respected non-profit, professional organizations, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Cancer Society (ACS). Before posting for the general public, all text is reviewed by members of the NWHIC Editorial Review Board (ERB). This ERB consists of a variety of health professionals including doctors, nurses, researchers, nutritionists, health educators, and others who provide constructive feedback and advice on the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the information. NWHIC does not endorse or recommend any commercial products or organizations in our health information.
Each section on NWHIC is reviewed regularly for currency. Some sections, like the news and women's health events and our search feature are updated daily. The What's New section, accessible from the home page, will provide you with a quick view of new information and other features recently added to NWHIC. Be sure to visit the site often to get the latest women's health information.
You may find definitions of these terms in our glossary.
You may call our toll-free Information and Referral service (800-994-9662 or TDD 888-220-5446) and an information specialist will help you find the information you need either on the web site, or by free publication request.
Call our toll-free Information and Referral service (800-994-9662 or TDD 888-220-5446) with the title of the publication and an information specialist will request a copy for you from a participating health organization. If you don't have a particular title in mind, the information specialists will search on your topics of interest and will identify appropriate publications they may order for you. These publications will be free-of-charge and will be mailed directly to you from the referral organization.
Many of the Office on Women's Health publications and fact sheets contain statistical information on women's health. You may also find statistics and mortality rates on NWHIC's Women's Health Statistics page. Another good source of information is the National Center for Health Statistics.
Current as of December 2005
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