The best health Web site

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September 28, 11:17 PM

by Angela Spears, Health Examiner

 

 

Find simple tips to help you stay healthy

Among the most accessible health Web sites designed to help people stay healthy is Healthfinder.gov. Its design and interactive health management tools make information easy to use for consumers and professionals. The Web site is user friendly, easy to understand and navigate.

Many of us struggle with complex health information Web sites. Healthfinder.gov makes important prevention information more accessible and is written in simple medical terms.  Its features include links to over 6,000 government and nonprofit health information resources on hundreds of health topics. Information is in English and Spanish.

Healthfinder.gov’s Quick Guide to Healthy Living uses everyday language and examples to:
· Tell users how taking small steps to improve health can lead to big benefits
· Motivate users by showing them the benefits of incorporating healthy behaviors into their lives
· Provide tools and encouragement, such as personal health calculators, menu planners and recipes, tips for caregivers, and printable lists of questions to take to the doctor

Another tool offered on the site is myhealthfinder, which provides personalized recommendations for clinical preventive services specific to the user’s age, gender, and pregnancy status. Based on their profiles, users may receive anywhere from five to 15 recommendations. For example, two of the recommendations a 35-year-old man would receive include getting blood pressure and cholesterol checked.

This feature was developed through a joint effort between the Health & Human Services’ Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the Agency for Health care Research and Quality (AHRQ). The feature provides evidence-based recommendations from the AHRQ-sponsored U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care.

Healthfinder.gov was first introduced in 1997. It has been certified by HONcode, the oldest and the most used ethical and trustworthy code for medical and health related information available on the Internet. It has also been recognized by the Medical Library Association as one of the top 10 most useful Web sites for consumers.

The healthfinder.gov project was developed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and is coordinated by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and its National Health Information Center, with the participation of a steering committee of representatives from federal agencies, including consumer health information specialists, librarians, and others actively engaged in providing on-line consumer health information.
 

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