World Education's Health and Literacy Initiative and the Massachusetts System for Adult Basic Education and Support (SABES) are pleased to announce a new collaboration with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) in support of the Plain Language Health Information Project. This project will train adult basic education staff to access, evaluate, and use health information relevant to the needs of adult learners and will enhance the ease of use and access to health resources via the Internet through MEDLINEplus and the LINCS Health & Literacy Special Collection.

The goal of the project is to build the capacity of the adult basic education system in Massachusetts and New England to access reliable, plain language health information for adults with limited English literacy skills.

The Plain Language Health Information Project is a unique collaboration between World Education, John Snow, Inc. and SABES, and builds on the success of the LINCS Health & Literacy Special Collection funded by the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and its Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS).

Trainings for ABE Practitioners
Next fall, with support from the Plain Language Health Information Project, SABES regional resource centers will be offering trainings for ABE practitioners on how to access, evaluate, and use relevant health resources in the classroom. The project will also help enhance access to health resources relevant to the adult basic education community via the LINCS Health & Literacy Special Collection. If you haven't been to the site recently, visit and check out our new link to MEDLINEplus interactive tutorials with sound and pictures on over 150 different health topics.

Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi is the LINCS Health Special Collection coordinator and the NLM Plain Language project coordinator at World Education, Boston. She can be reached at: skurtz@worlded.org