Health management tools are among 17 new mobile
applications that are available on the General Services
Administration’s newly revamped USA.gov Website.
USA.gov,
officially relaunched on July 2, is a central portal for all federal
government entities operated by GSA, which is the government agency
that manages the basic business operations of the U.S. government, such
as office properties and equipment.
Some of the apps are designed for the iPhone,
Android and BlackBerry, while several run through a mobile browser. The
redesigned USA.gov is part of the government's strategy to make
government services more innovative and faster to use, according to
Dave McClure, GSA associate administrator of citizen services and
innovative technologies.
On July 2, Peter R. Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, posted a blog describing the new apps. Running
on the iPhone, the National Institutes of Health's Body Mass Index
(BMI) Calculator allows you to enter your height and weight and then
get your relative amount of body fat. Depending on the numbers, you'll
be "underweight," "normal weight," "overweight" or categorized under
"obesity." The app allows you to enter data for standard or metric
measurements.
USA.gov also adds NIH's MedlinePlus Mobile for the
mobile Web, which includes health news and information on prescription
drugs. Meanwhile, MyFood-a-Pedia by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion provides dietary and
nutrition information for more than 1,000 foods. The tool allows you to
enter a particular food and find out the amount of calories and the
food group to which it belongs.
Also added is the Environmental Protection
Agency’s ultraviolet index to provide guidelines on avoiding
skin-damaging exposure to the sun. Another app provides notification of
the status of veterans benefits.
The mobile software suite also includes an app
from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) for handling disasters such as
floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and terrorism.
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