I left Taran's question below. As a medical librarian, i would like to believe that an increase in a person's understanding about prevention and disease will help them to take better care of themselves and be a healthier person. And it will help them to know what to demand from health care providers. While it is true, that people of lower economic status have less access to high quality or to even adequate health care, it is also true that they have less access to reliable health information. More and more government agencies and nonprofits are relying on the Internet to be their vehicle to distribute the latest news in health research and preventative care. People without access to the Internet cannot get on resources that the National Institutes of Health, including the National Library of Medicine and its excellent web site MedlinePlus http://medlineplus.gov/ provide. Dealing with providing people Internet access to assist them in getting better access to health information is a very important step in assisting them in getting and demanding better access to health care. Information is Power - or at the very least, an important part of getting power. So, in fact, maybe someone would be prevented from getting malaria if they were able to get online and learn that they need to take specific preventative measures to avoid it, and then were able to demand that preventative care be provided. Thats a stretch, and there are MANY issues that surround health care. Since this is the digital divide network, i am only focusing on this one aspect of it. I hope you see the value of having this conversation on this list serv. thanks for your comments. siobhan
> Wouldn't it be more fair to say that people who can afford internet access can also afford better health care (preventive and otherwise)? I find it difficult to see the correlation any other way. The digital divide encompasses many things, but I don't think that anyone has gotten malaria because they didn't have internet access. -- Taran Rampersad Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago [EMAIL PROTECTED] Looking for contracts/work! http://www.knowprose.com/node/9786 New!: http://www.OpenDepth.com http://www.knowprose.com http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/ "Criticize by creating." - Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
