H1N1 (Swine) Flu Guidance for Government Web Managers

Below is guidance for coordinating messages about the H1N1 flu (swine flu) on U.S government websites.

Who's coordinating web content for federal agencies?

The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services/CDC have the lead in coordinating public information, including web communications during public health incidents. HHS and CDC are the lead on all public health messaging and Homeland Security is lead on operations coordination.

The U.S. government continues to take aggressive action to address the current outbreak of 2009 H1N1 flu in the United States. Our goals during this public health emergency are to reduce transmission and illness severity, and provide information to health care providers, public health officials, and the American people in addressing the challenges posed by this newly identified virus.

What are the main guidelines in posting web content related to H1N1 (swine) flu?

The best way to support the communications efforts on our websites is to stay within our agency mission-lanes and - as it makes sense - to link to other agencies with primary expertise. A few guidelines:

• DO NOT include health information on your websites if you are not a health agency. Link to the resources. It is critical to have a single source of health information.
• It is not helpful for an agency website to duplicate information that is the purview and expertise of other agencies.
• Information needs to remain under control of the "expert" agency and linked to by other agencies.

What specific content should my agency link to and publish?

• If your agency is providing resources on your website, please use a shortcut address, /h1n1flu (all lowercase). For example: www.youragency.gov/h1n1flu (all lowercase)
• If you create a /h1n1flu shortcut to your site, contact Gwynne Kostin [gwynne.kostin@dhs.gov], New Media Director at the Department of Homeland Security, who will compile and distribute all the agency links.
• "H1N1 Flu" is the preferred terminology. However, the public is still very familiar with "swine flu" and that is the term most media outlets continue to use. So for search engine optimization, it's a good idea to use swine flu parenthetically, for example, "Agency X Response to H1N1 (Swine) Flu."
• Use the 2009 Flu Information Widget, if it meets your mission requirements to link to this information (see instructions for adding the widget). Please add it to your /h1n1flu page or your emergency page, as it makes sense for your agency.
• Contact Gwynne Kostin [gwynne.kostin@dhs.gov], about your social media efforts in support of your flu communications. This is a new communications area, and we would like to coordinate and share information. See what the CDC is doing.

Questions?

Contact the following agency web contacts:

HHS: Dick Stapleton [Richard.Stapleton@hhs.gov]

CDC: Janice Nall [jnall@cdc.gov]

DHS: Gwynne Kostin [gwynne.kostin@dhs.gov]