News & Events

Letter From Dr. Stephen I. Katz: NIAMS 2013 A Year of Health Planners

NIAMS - National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Special Announcement
January 17, 2013
Contact Information

Office of Science Policy, Planning and Communications (OSPPC)
Communications and Public Liaison Branch (CPLB)
niamsinfo@mail.nih.gov

Anita Linde, M.P.P.
Director—OSPPC

Nancy Garrick, Ph.D.
Deputy Director—CPLB

Trish Reynolds, R.N., M.S.
Media Liaison

Letter From Dr. Stephen I. Katz: NIAMS 2013 A Year of Health Planners

Photo: Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D. Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D.

Dear Colleagues:

With almost every household in America affected in some way by conditions of the bones, joints, muscles, and skin, the NIAMS is committed to continuing its efforts to make health information more accessible to people from multicultural communities, so they can benefit from the gains made in scientific research. As part of our efforts to reach underserved populations, the NIAMS is offering a new health information resource in 2013, created as part of the NIAMS National Multicultural Outreach Initiative.

A Year of Health is a series of health planners developed for people in multicultural communities. The planners provide health tips and information about staying healthy and managing conditions of the bones, joints, muscles and skin. They are tailored for the following audiences:

The health planners are based on audience research, created with community input, and field tested in four multicultural communities. These planners augment our growing collection of health information tailored for underserved racial and ethnic populations. We have an extensive library of Spanish publications, and, in 2013, we will add additional Asian languages to our collection of Chinese materials.

We recognize that in order to effectively expand our reach in multicultural communities, the NIAMS must partner with national and local organizations that are trusted sources of information in these populations. To help support such organizations in their outreach efforts, the NIAMS has created an electronic toolkit with resources to assist partners in effectively distributing the health planners and in engaging their communities to seek additional NIH health information. We learned from our pilot study that the health planners are an excellent tool to help organizations develop new collaborations and strengthen existing partnerships.

We encourage you to share this new resource with members of your community. To order A Year of Health planners free of charge, call the NIAMS toll-free at 877–226–4267 (TTY: 301–565–2966) or email NIAMSinfo@mail.nih.gov. For more information, visit the National Multicultural Outreach Initiative home page at www.niams.nih.gov/multicultural.

Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
National Institutes of Health