The Ageing and Life Course (ALC) web site is a section of the World Health Organization (WHO) web site. WHO is the authority on health within the United Nations system. WHO “provides leadership on global health issues, shapes research agendas, sets standards, provides technical support and monitors trends”. The WHO site offers a wide variety of information by topic and country and provides access to numerous statistics and publications.
The ALC site does not specify individual authors, however, the World Health Assembly is the primary decision making body for the World Health Organization. WHO lists detailed information on the Assembly's membership and the organization's governance structure. The ALC section is found under the Programmes and Projects link of the navigation list. The section can easily be overlooked. WHO Programmes and Projects includes an extensive A‐Z list of programmes, projects and partnerships. Visitors can learn how to get involved with projects and access related documents and forms.
The ALC section is concerned with the overall health and wellness of aging populations. Resources are divided into two sections: Health Care and Older Persons (primary health care, long‐term care, dementia, workforce development, specific health projects) and Environments, Health Promotion and Development (age‐friendly environments, emergency care, gender, economic issues, elder abuse). The site is free with internet access and has a simple design. Many of the publications are also available for free. The WHO Bookstore offers a variety of print materials for purchase.
Pages load quickly and download time is minimal. The graphics are few, small, and colourful. Each page is relatively short and is not overloaded with text. The site can be viewed in several different languages (English, French, Spanish, Macedonian and Albanian) using the language toolbar. Users can navigate the site fairly easily, change language settings, and conduct site searches. A static list of quick links is found on the left of each page and breadcrumb links help users track their path. The quick links provide access to information by country, health topics, publications, data and statistics, and programmes and projects. Secondary pages provide links to related information. Footer links direct users to contact information, RSS feeds, employment, FAQs, privacy and e‐mail scam information.
Users must drill down to specific information via the A‐Z lists of topics or use the search box to locate particular information. Users can search the entire WHO site or sections of the site. The Google powered search results offer corrective text suggestions (did you mean …?), search tips and advanced search options (language choices, searching publications, and limiting the number of results). The FAQ page appears to be the only help tool provided. Users can communicate with WHO via the Contacts page.
Global Health Council.org (www.globalhealth.org) is a US‐based, non‐profit organization that also provides global health information but includes a broader member base of “health‐care professionals and organizations that include NGOs, foundations, corporations, government agencies and academic institutions”. Some may find this site more user‐friendly. WHO also provides a list of external partners involved in similar work.
The WHO's Ageing and Life Course site offers information on ageing on a global scale. The site is suitable for upper level high school libraries, public, academic and health/science libraries. The WHO site contains valuable information and resources on a variety of topics and users are encouraged to explore the site beyond the Ageing and Life Course section.
