Disseminating knowledge and ideas via large online news and blog platforms like the Huffington Post is one effective way to engage and educate our fellow citizens on a myriad of subjects. Teachers can describe their solutions to improve classroom learning, engineers can bring attention to a new technological breakthrough, and no doubt many of us can express our opinions on politics ad infinitum. A key facet of online platforms like the Huffington Post is that content is placed according to topic in their own sections, ensuring that readers can easily find the stories and articles they are interested in.
However, as an epidemiologist and someone who wishes to bring attention to matters of public health importance, much of what I write does not totally fit into any one of the existing sections of the Huffington Post.
To be sure, the Huffington Post does provide Global Health and Public Health listings of articles placed in other sections, but whether or not a relevant article makes it on these listings is hit or miss. The Impact section is also a place with a readership potentially interested in matters of public health. However there still remains no one-stop-shop for readers looking for public health voices.
Given the cross-cutting importance of public health issues and ideas, a section devoted solely to public health should be established on the Huffington Post.
Take for example a recent piece of mine that addresses the effect of immigration fears on HIV and STI testing. Should such an article be placed in the Science section solely because it centers around a study published in a peer-reviewed journal (even though it was certainly not within the field of the natural or physical sciences)? Should it have been placed in the politics section because it discussed the potential consequences of politicians' rhetoric regarding immigration? Or was it correctly placed in the Healthy Living section (even though that section tends to focus more on nutrition, exercise, mental well-being, and the like)?
It is commonplace for public health issues to cut across disciplines in this way. This is due to the fact that it is rarely possible to separate constituent threads when discussing a matter of public health importance. Even when the science points to smoking as being detrimental to health in manifold ways, sociological and political factors are still at play when it comes to preventing tobacco-use initiation among young adults. Even when ever-improving cancer treatments are made available, economic factors cannot be ignored when figuring out why these treatments are accessible to some and not others.
One of the great improvements that digital media has made over print publications is that space is not nearly as limited. The Huffington Post in particular is a bastion where numerous diverse voices can express their ideas and experiences to a global audience. Sections such as Entertainment, Taste, and Weddings (among many others) are all deserving of their own designated space. Isn't public health, too?