Govt launches national portal to raise health literacy

In a bid to improve the health literacy of people and to serve as a single point of access for consolidated health information, Government today launched an online platform, the National Health Portal.
Union Health Minister J P Nadda launched the portal at the health pavilion of India International Trade Fair here, Health Ministry officials said.
The portal aims to make this as a single point access for authenticated health information for citizens, students, healthcare professionals and researchers, they said.
The officials said the Ministry has set up the portal in pursuance to the decisions of the National Knowledge Commission, to provide healthcare related information to the citizens of the country and to serve as a single point of access for consolidated health information.

The National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW) has established Centre for Health Informatics to be the secretariat for managing the activities of the portal.
When contacted, Union Health Secretary Luv Verma told PTI that "all information that makes a healthy human being are available at the click of a button now".
Talking about the portal, officials said access to health information is one of the foremost rights of humankind and inadequate or poor health information can increase the risk of hospitalisation or even disease burden.
Noting that medical information that is not tailored for consumers can be confusing and deciphering this can be difficult, the Ministry said, therefore, availability of reliable, high quality health information is important for the promotion of health among the population.