European public health portal launched

A multi-lingual pan-European Public Health Portal  has been launched that will provide a gateway to simple and reliable health information on topics ranging from bio-terrorism to babies’ health, and infectious diseases to health insurance.

The portal was launched last week at the EU eHealth conference in Malaga, Spain. Initially available in English only, the portal will next month be extended to cover the 20 main languages used within Europe. It includes links to over 40,000 ‘trustworthy’ sources.

Information will be provided on a range of health topics, details on how citizens can access health services in different member states, together with information on policy and research and news on bulletins. Details such as health indicators and statistics across European countries will also be made available.

EU Health and consumer protection commissioner, Markos Myprianou, said: "The Health-EU Portal is a very large project bringing together all EU member states as well as EFTA (European Free Trade Association) nations, international organisations and NGOs."

He added: "The translation of the portal into all 20 official EU languages means that up to 1.5 billion people worldwide can use it to help them make healthy choices."

According to the EU the Public Health Portal will provide a "single point of access to reliable and easy-to-find information on a range of health-related users. The main aim of the portal is to encourage EU citizens to take more responsibility for their own health.

The portal contains information on 47 health-related topics divided into six themed areas:

• My Health – information on women’s health, people with disabilities, babies and children (such as nutritional advice)
• Health Problems – information on particular diseases such as cancer, mental health and cardiovascular disease
• My Lifestyle – information on drugs, tobacco, lifestyle, leisure and travel advice (such as detail on what to do if you get sick in another EU country)
• My Environment – information on consumer right
• Care for Me – information on long term care, insurance, mobility and medicines
• Health in the EU – information on research, indicators and statistics

In addition the new portal will describe what activities, initiatives and programmes the EU is doing to improve health, strengthen research and "help people make healthier choices".

The €600,000 (£409,000) project was funded as part of the EU Public Health Programme, which aims to encourage greater involvement of the public, institutions, organisations and associations in health.

An editorial board drawn from commission services and representatives from individual member states will oversee the future development of the portal and its content.