Health Data Websites
by Gordon Haber
“Stop sneezing on me.”
The Trump administration has frozen communications from several federal health agencies.
Even if they unfreeze communications, they will likely politicize the reporting of data on infectious diseases like bird flu, COVID, and HIV. This will make it difficult for journalists to report on these issues and for citizens to assess their own risks and make decisions accordingly.
In the interest of transparency, I’m assembling a list of city and municipal agencies that provide health data. Scroll to the bottom for other organizations, like the WHO. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of each site, and some sites are easier to use than others. You’re going to have to do some digging. But at least you have a place to start.
I’m adding to the list as time allows. There’s a contact form at the bottom if you have questions or a link to add.
Arizona
California
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
New York
New Jersey
North Carolina
- NC State Center for Health Statistics (“Website updates are in progress”)
Ohio
- Ohio Health Data and Statistics (404 error for this site and all of ohio.gov)
- Columbus Public Health Data and Reports
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Texas
West Virginia
- WV seems to have stopped publishing health data in 2020. However, it is possible to request health data here.
Other organizations providing health data…
Big Cities Health Inventory
- A nonprofit’s data platform with a number of metrics, including infectious diseases, vaccination, and violence across American big cities. The data hasn’t been update since 2022.
Canada
- Our neighbors to the north have a comprehensive health data infobase.
- See also Canada’s ongoing list of avian flu detections by province.
Center for Disease Control
- Enterprising citizen journalists have added CDC datasets to the Internet Archive.
- Journalist Jessica Valenti is posting the deleted CDC guidelines relating to reproductive rights.
City Health Dashboard
- The City Health Dashboard has data on over 40 measures of health and drivers of health for over 970 cities across the U.S.
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)
- An independent population health research organization based at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
University of Minnesota
- The bird flu tracker is a promising tool, but the interface isn’t user friendly, and the data stops at October, 2024.
World Health Organization
- WHO Data Hub
- WHO Global Health Observatory
- WHO Western Pacific region avian flu data (Scroll down for monthly and weekly updates)