Netlines

• “A healthy America depends on a healthy world” is one of the core messages of http://www.globalhealth.gov/, a global portal for the US Department of Health and Human Services. “Addressing health globally enhances America's stature overseas and its own national security” is another, and one that has increased resonance since 11 September. While this site inevitably puts the United States at the centre of its world view, it has elements that will be of interest to anyone interested in health from an international perspective. It is easy to navigate and has a number of useful links.

• A super links page from the Friends of the Children of the Great Ormond Street Hospital (www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/library/noframes/resource.htm) covers a wide range of topics from epidemiology and genetics to the full text of the report of the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry. Although this is a British site, its vibrant, well chosen, and feature packed selection of paediatric and related resources will also be of interest to those outside the United Kingdom. This is not just for paediatric specialists.

• The British Thoracic Society has produced a useful set of guidelines (www.brit-thoracic.org.uk/guide/download_guide.html) on various respiratory issues, including the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and control and prevention of tuberculosis in the United Kingdom. The clear and logical layout of the page allows easy access to this collection.

• Those who have a handheld computer that uses the palm operating system may want to check out http://freewarepalm.net/medical/medical.shtml. This is a collection of programs that can be downloaded and used in a handheld computer. As well as being a collection of medical programs, as the site name suggests, this is a freeware collection. A general tour of the site reveals plenty of programs on offer in a number of other categories.

• From the US based National Cancer Institute comes a set of hypertext links leading to a handy collection of statistics. Not surprisingly, the site (http://wwwicic.nci.nih.gov/statistics.shtml) concentrates on US based statistics, but for those interested in this topic, there is a tremendous selection available. It is easy in a statistics collection to drown in large volumes of data, but the sensible layout of this page should allow users to find what they want without becoming overwhelmed.

We welcome suggestions for websites to be included in future Netlines. Readers should contact Harry Brown at the above email address.