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Welcome to the 8th issue of the HealthInsite Newsletter. This time we'll look at resources specifically targetted at women and one of Australia's major health concerns - asthma. We're also delighted to let you know that three new partners have joined the HealthInsite family.
As always, please feel free to let us know if you have any problems or if you have any suggestions for future editions, by sending an email to:
mailto:healthinsite.feedback@health.gov.au
IN THIS ISSUE Volume 1, Issue 8
Resources for Women
Since HealthIniste began we have tried to be responsive to feedback from our users. Early on there was a strong call for resources to be arranged so that particular segments of the community could easily find information relevant to their information needs. To do this we've developed specific topic pages for men, women, children and older people. In the future we'll be arranging resources for other population groups such as young people and indigenous communities. This newsletter will look at the Women's Health Topic pages.
The Women's Health Topic page can be found at:
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Women_s_Health
The Women's Health Topic Page includes the following subtopics:
Baby Feeding
Breast Cancer
Cancer of the Uterus
Cervical Cancer
Diet and Overweight
Family Planning and Fertility
Menopause
Menstruation
Mental Health of Women
Osteoporosis
Ovarian Cancer
Postnatal Depression
Pregnancy
Sexual Health for Women
In addition to our Topic Pages, many of our information partners specifically cover issues for women including:
Australian Breastfeeding Association
http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/
National Breast Cancer Centre
http://www.nbcc.org.au/
The Jean Hailes Foundation
http://www.jeanhailes.org.au/
Women's and Children's Hospital (Adelaide)
http://www.wch.sa.gov.au/
Women's Health Queensland Wide
http://www.womhealth.org.au/
Women's Health Victoria
http://www.whv.org.au/
Asthma
Asthma is a huge problem in Australia. It is estimated that almost 2 million people in Australia have asthma. Up to 1 in 4 children, 1 in 7 adolescents and 1 in 10 adults will experience symptoms consistent with asthma at some time in their lives. Asthma is one of the leading causes of childhood admission to hospital and absenteeism from school and work and it ranks among the 10 most common reasons for seeing a GP.
Although there is no cure for asthma, illness and death associated with asthma can be reduced with proper diagnosis, medical management and education. Most people with asthma lead a normal life and can participate competitively in sport. Many of our leading sportsmen and women have asthma.
HealthInsite has a large number of resources to help you understand and manage asthma and we've developed new topic pages to help you find what you need. The main asthma topic page is at:
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Asthma
All the topics and subtopics are listed in the Topics Map under 'asthma' at:
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/content/topic_map/topic_map.cfm
or else you may like to do a search.
Many of our partners provide information about asthma and you may like to go directly to their web pages.
Asthma Australia is an association of all the Asthma Foundations throughout Australia. Asthma Australia aims to eliminate asthma as a major cause of ill health and disruption within the community. Asthma Australia can be found at:
http://www.asthmaaustralia.org.au
Asthma Victoria is a community funded not-for-profit organisation that provides advice, counselling, education and training for people with asthma and their carers, health professionals, first aiders and the Victorian community as a whole. Asthma Victoria is available at:
http://www.asthma.org.au/index.html
The National Asthma Council Australia (NAC) is an Australian non-profit body which serves the community by creating awareness and providing information about asthma. The NAC was launched in 1990 as a combined initiative of The Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and Asthma Australia. The National Asthma Council Australia is available at:
http://www.nationalasthma.org.au/
The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) is the peak professional body of clinical allergists and immunologists in Australia and New Zealand. ASCIA Education Resources (aer) offer everyone access to reliable and up to date information on allergy, asthma and immune diseases. The aer web pages include a continuously expanding range of information bulletins, for the benefit of patients and medical practitioners and is available at:
http://www.allergy.org.au/
The Australian Lung Foundation aims to assist the relief of people suffering from lung disease, and promote lung health in Australia. This site includes lots of useful information about asthma and other respiratory diseases. The Australian Lung Foundation is available at:
http://www.lungnet.org.au/.
Haemophilia Awareness Week
Haemophilia Awareness Week this year is from 11-17 April with World Haemophilia Day being celebrated on April 17th by haemophilia organisations around the world. This week provides a unique opportunity to raise public awareness of haemophilia and von Willebrand disorder and to bring attention to the tremendous needs of people with these conditions and their carers.
More information about Haemophilia Awareness Week is available from:
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/shortlinks/sLink.cfm?n=8&l=1
If you know someone in this situation, you may like to find out more by visiting the Haemophilia Foundation Australia at:
http://www.haemophilia.org.au/
Your Feedback - More uses for HealthInsite
This month we received an email from a Year 11 student in the Northern Territory. She was looking for information to help her complete a biology assignment. HealthInsite is a great resource for school assignments. We were able to point her to several relevant topic pages that explained the disease, treatment options and risk factors.
We're always happy when people find HealthInsite useful. Our users might be trying to understand their own health problems, or seeking to avoid future problems with prevention or lifestyle changes. They might be looking for information for a friend, family member or patient. They are all seeking to become more informed, just like our student looking for reference material.
Do you have any other suggestions about how HealthInsite might be put to good use?
Would you like to help us?
We've been developing a new design for HealthInsite to make it even easier for you to find what you need. It's a 'work in progress' so some of the features aren't available yet, but we want to know what regular HealthInsite users think.
The new design will be available for testing from 27 March 'til 12 April only at:
http://refresh.healthinsite.gov.au
Please send your comments to
mailto:healthinsite.feedback@health.gov.au
Partner Spotlight - Three New Partners
This month we're delighted to welcome three new information partners.
The National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS) was established in December 2000 to champion continuous improvement in the quality and delivery of clinical practice to the Australian community. NICS works in partnership with consumers, health professionals and organisations, researchers and governments, to close the gaps between evidence and clinical practice to improve health outcomes for Australians.
The Crippled Children's Association of South Australia( CCA) is the main provider of therapy and family support services to children with physical and multiple disability living in South Australia. The site provides a wealth of information and research useful for anyone dealing with disability and includes special areas for kids and teens.
The Haemophilia Foundation Australia (HFA) represents people and their families with haemophilia, von Willebrand disorder and other related bleeding disorders. Currently in Australia there are approximately 1,800 people with Haemophilia with varied degrees of severity and an additional 200,000 people living with von Willebrand disorder. This site contains lots of practical information about bleeding disorders and also includes special areas for kids and teens.
Resources from these partners will be progressively added to our database over the coming weeks so they will be included in the list of links under our topic pages or when you do a search. For more information please visit the relevant homepages listed below.
The National Institute of Clinical Studies at:
http://www.nicsl.com.au/
The Crippled Children's Association of South Australia at:
http://www.cca.org.au and
The Haemophilia Association of Australia at:
http://www.haemophilia.org.au/
Latest Resources
The HealthInsite team regularly adds new items to the database including new information partners, new topic pages and news items. You can find a list of new and updated material added to the database in the past month at:
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/search/newsletter_search.cfm?id=10
Hot Tip - New Topics Map
Have you ever used the topics map?
This part of HealthInsite lists all the topic pages along with subtopics. It's a great way of browsing through all of our topics if you're not entirely sure which search term to use. It also gives a good overview of the breadth of information that we cover.
As HealthInsite has grown, the topics map has become less useful because the list of topics is now too long. Our technical team have developed a solution that divides up all the topics alphabetically and which still allows you to see subtopics wherever they are available.
We think it's a great solution. Let us know what you think.
The Topics Map is available from the home page or by going directly to:
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/content/topic_map/topic_map.cfm
What's on next month?
Next month we'll take a look at resources for healthy ageing, and immunisation and vaccine preventable illnesses.
Have a great month, from all of us at HealthInsite.
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