8,000 U.S. Government Websites Taken Down, Including Health Data
Nearly 8,000 U.S. government websites were taken down over the weekend, including those related to climate change and public health. Among the removed content was a paper by Dr. Gordon Schiff on suicide risk assessment, which mentioned 'transgender' and 'LGBTQ'. This has raised concerns about censorship and access to health data.
Dr. Schiff's paper, 'Multiple Missed Opportunities for Suicide Risk Assessment', was published in 2022 on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Patient Safety Network website. It was one of 19 papers and summaries removed, according to Dr. Schiff. The removal comes amidst a broader effort to take down federal websites, affecting nearly 8,000 sites between Friday and Sunday.
Journalists are encouraged to continue reporting on health issues despite the loss of government data. Alternative sources of health data include organizations like the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), ProPublica, Association of Health Care Journalists' Health Journalism Data, and many others. These organizations aim to provide nonpartisan sources for health policy research and journalism. Additionally, data archiving efforts by various groups like the Harvard Dataverse and the Internet Archive are helping to preserve and provide access to removed data.
The removal of health data from federal websites has raised concerns about censorship and access to crucial information. While the impact on public health is yet to be fully understood, organizations and journalists are working to fill the gap by providing alternative sources of health data. Dr. Schiff's concern about the censorship of published research highlights the importance of preserving and maintaining access to such data.
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