Database Search: Public Health

This free online simulation game takes place in a Haitian town and challenges players to keep a family of five as healthy, happy, and well educated as possible, given the limited resources available. New unexpected events occasionally arise that affect the family’s well being and require the player to devise new strategies to keep everyone thriving, if possible. Players are successful if family members survive, are well fed, and achieve a high level of education.

 “During a political rally for Senator Lund, the unexpected happens - a Dirty Bomb! The community needs you to use your public health emergency skills to make decisions on behalf of the responders during the emergency response. In this online simulation, you will complete three missions.”

In Disaster in Franklin County: A Public Health Simulation, players assume the role of a public health professional during a time of a natural disaster. Players experience multiple professions in the public health industry in an attempt to gain a greater understanding of the issues involved in a natural disaster. This game was developed by the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.

EnviroRisk is a problem-solving game in which players serve as a public health professional investigating an environmental health problem. Players solve several cases in this web-based game developed by the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

This free, online simulation game is about overpopulation and how it is affecting the planet. The game takes place in the near future, during a time of economic collapse and growing populations. Players can learn about the threat of overpopulation and its possible impact on the environment.

In the free, online game Killer Flu, players are taught about seasonal and pandemic flu and how those differ from the influenza virus. Players navigate through a world while learning about how these illnesses spread and mutate every year. The goal is to infect as many people as possible with the flu virus by choosing places that are susceptible to transmission, such as hospitals or workplaces.

Outbreak at Watersedge puts players in the role of a public health official trying to track down the source of a mysterious illness. Players review medical charts, conduct interviews, investigate places where the outbreak may have started, and take samples of anything that may be related to the source. This free, online game was developed by the University of Minnesota.

The free, downloadale game Power Struggle takes place in the near future during a time when the world is in a bitter battle over alternative fuels. Players use strategy skills and work together to come up with ideas for alternative sources of fuel and possible solutions to the fuel crisis.

The free, online game Ravenous takes place in the future.The food chain has been broken, and societies are desperately searching for alternative ways to feed themselves. This game requires players to use their strategy skills and work together to come up with possible solutions that can save humanity from starvation. This game was developed by the Institute for the Future.

Sneeze demonstrates how easily a virus can be transmitted from person to person. In each level of this free, online game, players infect a certain percentage of people with only one sneeze. After sneezing on a person, players watch as that sneeze gets transmitted.

As emergency responders, players treat hundreds of victims of a bioterrorist attack. The game is set in a drug dispensing center that has been set up in the middle of a terrified city polluted with anthrax. Players use their time management and strategy skills to help civilians get in and out of the center as quickly as possible. This game is available for free download.