HealthMap.org - Global Disease Alert Mapping

HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.

Let’s talk about useful for a moment. So many of us feel helpless in the face of worldwide diseases, feeling that there’s nothing we can do to forsee them or protect ourselves from them in the most case. Take for instance the Avian Bird Flu, where did people turn to see exactly where the outbreaks were and how severe they were? The news, perhaps, but HealthMap seems like such a better alternative, and best of all, it’s there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Could they provide further information on vaccinations for travellers in foreign countries?