About AMEDD - AMEDD Innovations Since Desert Storm

The Health Information Operations program at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine was established in 2001, shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks. Its mission is to identify emerging health threats and provide timely health information about those threats to service members, Families and Army leaders, as well as to coordinate health information campaigns requiring a combined effort from CHPPM and other Army Medical Department and Department of Defense resources.

To support deploying personnel, HIO develops and maintains a large inventory of health information products. Comprehensive Deployment Health Guides have been developed for locations worldwide. As Soldiers prepare to deploy, these guides help them prepare for potential health threats, as well as remind them of standard health and hygiene practices. Should personnel be deploying to an area where no guide has been developed, HIO and the other technical programs at CHPPM can rapidly develop a guide to meet the needs of the mission.

In addition to the Deployment Health Guides, HIO develops and maintains Medical Threat Briefings for deployment locations around the world. These briefings are intended to go hand-in-hand with the Deployment Health Guides in preparing Soldiers to best protect themselves. Through these briefings, CHPPM also assists installation-level preventive medicine staffs to deliver high quality pre-deployment medical threat briefings. CHPPM’s centralized briefings ensure consistency of information across the Army and allow easy updating for inclusion of new or revised information.

HIO has also coordinated with partners throughout DOD to spearhead the development of a wide range of health information products to support public health issues such as pandemic and avian influenza, heat and cold injury prevention, and others. CHPPM products are available the Internet at http://phc.amedd.army.mil/ , through the "My Medical" section of Army Knowledge Online, and through medical resources and units at installations and activities worldwide.

As of mid-2007, HIO has distributed over 15 million individual health information products that have been used by members of the U.S. armed services and their Families, other federal agencies, and our allies worldwide in support of the Global War on Terror, countless other missions and activities, as well as normal work, training and daily life.