Research Guides: Cultural Competencies in Health Care: Websites

Internet Resources on Cultures

Association of American Indian Physicians
The Association of American Indian Physicians, and national partners, are educating and promoting health and wellness as both a lifestyle and a career path in American Indian and Alaskan Native communities across the country.
CDC - Global Health
Disease knows no borders. In today’s interconnected world, diseases can spread from an isolated, rural village to any major city in as little as 36 hours. The U.S. cannot protect its borders and the health of its citizens without addressing diseases elsewhere in the world. CDC works 24/7 to protect Americans and save lives around the world by detecting and controlling outbreaks at their source. In addition, CDC helps other countries increase their ability to prevent, detect, and respond to health threats on their own.
U.S. Office of Minority Health
The mission of the Office of Minority Health is to improve the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will help eliminate health disparities.
Cultural and Linguistic Competency - CLAS
From the U.S. Office of Minority Health, CLAS are services that are respectful of and responsive to the health beliefs, practices, and needs of diverse patients. The site provides standards, free online education and more.
E-HRAF World Cultures
Cross-cultural database that contains over 350,000 pages of information on all aspects of cultural and social life. Subject codes are useful for searching.
NIH Health Information in Many Languages
Information for select health areas.
EthnoMed
Ethnomed is a joint project of the University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries & Harborview Medical Center. The site contains information about immigrant and refugee groups, specifically those living in the Seattle, WA area, however much of the information is useful for healthcare providers throughout the U.S.
Global Health Council
GHC is the leading membership organization supporting and connecting advocates, implementers and stakeholders around global health priorities worldwide
HRSA Culture, Language and Health Literacy
Cultural competency resources arranged by gender, special populations, race/ethnicity, age, and more. Includes a list of essential health literacy tools.
Library of Congress Country Studies
Offers a description and accompanying analysis of the history, political, economic, social and security systems of just over 100 countries. Also takes in to account how these systems are affected by cultural factors. Note that studies were written anywhere between 1988 to present and some information may be out of date.
World Health Organization
WHO is the United Nations agency for health. Under the countries tab there is an alphabetical list of countries. Each entry contains information about health concerns, health services, nutrition and national health systems. News and health statistics are also available for most countries.
A World of Cultures
World of Cultures is a Worldview Project initiative. Through this site visitors can access educational materials, multimedia content, resources and links related to world cultures, travel and the study of countries and cultures.

Assessing Websites on Culture & Health

When using a website for research, be cautious. Keep in mind that the majority of the information you find online goes through little or no review process. Start out by reading their "About" or similarly titled pages. Always consider the organization and their purpose behind the site:

.com = commercial
.edu = education
.org = organization
.gov = government

Think about possible conflicts of interest between the site owners and the information included. Be especially wary of sites with lots of advertising. Look for research credentials and contact information, ideally an e-mail address, phone number, and physical address. They should cite their sources just as you would in a research paper.