Dear Colleagues:

In this new year, NIAMS is committed to continuing our work to improve the Nation’s health and reduce illness and disability through research, training, and information dissemination. As part of this commitment, we are taking steps to ensure that the health information we provide will truly make a difference in people’s lives. We are constantly looking for ways to empower organizations and community leaders that serve diverse populations with the health education tools they need.

We understand how important it is for community advocates and health professionals to have access to culturally and linguistically appropriate health information. To assist with these outreach efforts, NIAMS has created a new Community Outreach website. It features a large collection of information and resources on bones, joints, muscles and skin to help make health education activities a success. The site contains publications — categorized by disease type, lifespan, and sex and gender — that community intermediaries can tailor to their audience. The new site also features social media sharing tools, including a set of eye-catching e-cards that can easily be shared with constituents to promote better health.

Additionally, we continue to make improvements to the NIAMS website to ensure that users can easily find the information they need. The NIAMS website currently draws over 2 million visitors each month, with the Spanish-language portal now comprising over half of this web traffic. In addition to publications in Spanish, we offer an extensive collection of health information materials in Chinese (Mandarin), Korean and Vietnamese.

In the spring of 2017, our Multicultural Outreach News e-newsletter will be renamed the NIAMS Community Outreach Bulletin. The new title better represents the information provided for key stakeholders working with diverse communities. The bulletin will be distributed four times a year.

In addition to these new resources in 2017, we will continue to work with professional and voluntary organizations, in particular the nearly 90 groups that comprise the NIAMS Coalition, to raise awareness about NIAMS research. They are our key partners, and serve as the voices of the patients and professionals for whom we work. We strongly believe that these partnerships are vital to fulfilling our mission well into the future.

I encourage you to share our health outreach resources with your communities and constituents, and join in our efforts to make reliable health information accessible to all people. Together, we can build healthier communities for the years to come.