4770 Buford Highway, MS-K39
Atlanta,
GA 30341
770-488-2432 (Voice)
770-488-8300 (FAX)
The Information Network for Public Health Officials (INPHO) was initiated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1992 as part of its strategy to strengthen the infrastructure of public health in the United States. The ultimate goal of INPHO is to improve the health of Americans through more effective public health practice. The INPHO initiative addresses the serious national problem that public health professionals have lacked ready access to much of the authoritative, technical information they need to identify health dangers, implement prevention and health promotion strategies, and evaluate health program effectiveness. INPHO utilizes state-of-the-art telecommunications and computer networks to give state and community public health practitioners new command over information resources.There are three essential components of the INPHO vision: linkage, information access, and data exchange. INPHO computer networks and software link local clinics, state and federal health agencies, hospitals, managed care organizations and other providers, eliminating geographic and bureaucratic barriers to communication and information exchange. Public health practitioners have unprecedented electronic access to health publications, reports, databases, directories, and other information. High speed communications capacity enables them to communicate and exchange data locally and across the nation on the full universe of public health issues.