14 September 2009
NEW HPB ONLINE YOUR ONE-STOP HEALTH INFORMATION PORTAL
HPB Online (http://www.hpb.gov.sg), Singapore s No.1 Health & Medical information website (awarded by HitWise in 2008), underwent a recent revamp to integrate its online resources into one-stop health information portal. The revamped website also now allows users to personalise their own health page on the HPB Online, according to their needs and preferences.
Treasure trove of health information
2 The revamped HPB Online by the Health Promotion Board (HPB), is a treasure trove of the latest and most reliable health information and resources simplified for the general public. Health topics such as Screening, Mental Health, Physical Activity, Food For Health, Substance Abuse, Sexual Health, Infectious Diseases and Chronic Diseases are all easily accessible (Refer to Annex I, Figure 1). Each health topic is also organised to suit the needs of various target groups such as men, women, adults, older adults, youths etc, making it easier for them to find relevant articles. There are also some articles catering to specialised target groups such as healthcare professionals, workplace health facilitators, caregivers and more. (Refer to Annex I, Figure 2)
3 A basic and user-friendly alphabetic listing of more than 150 common diseases and conditions is also available to serve as a reference guide for netizens. The causes & risk factors, signs & symptoms, complications, screening & diagnosis, treatment and prevention of each disease are listed in simple point form to help the general public gain a quick and easy understanding of their health risks, work out their screening schedules, and more importantly, adopt healthy lifestyle practises.
Online tools to facilitate personal health management
4 Quick and easy-to-use online health tools such as the BMI calculator, mobile diet tracker, diabetic risk assessment, food intake assessment, recipe analyser, asthma control calendar, my health journal, my quit (smoking) plan and many more, enable users to assess their health status, and help them understand the impact of their lifestyle choices on health.
5 There is also a new online service to help parents to reschedule their children s appointments at the designated clinics for the various types of School Health Services.
6 HPB Online also caters to older users by allowing the upsizing of fonts for web pages to enhance its visibility and readability. There are also audio-visual features for selected sections in the website to aid in the learning and understanding of the health topics for the older users.
Personalisation for registered users shortens search time
7 Registered users can also customise the look and feel of their personalised pages. At the same time, they can extract preferred information feeds and online applications from HPB s website, to incorporate as content into their personal pages.
8 With personalisation, users can pre-select their preferred health topics and also incorporate basic health tools (in the form of widgets) onto their personalised page for their convenience. Thereafter, any new information or articles on the preferred topics will be pushed to their personalised page (Refer to Annex I, Figure 3).
Web 2.0 technology to support vodcasts, podcasts and RSS feeds
9 HPB also collaborated with gym and fitness operator California Fitness, to develop six new segments of vodcast on the topic of Tone & Stretch for online streaming, as well as for download. The exercises shown in the vodcasts are easy to follow and can be used at home or at work (Refer to Annex I, Figure 4).
10 Popular radio programme series on health hosted by famous Hong Kong actress Nancy Sit, were converted into podcasts for netizens to catch up on missed episodes. Regular podcasts include the weekly NutriLine podcast, and SP Healthcast (collaboration between Singapore Polytechnic and HPB).
11 RSS feeds are incorporated to alert subscribed users of new comments or updates to their selected articles on a real-time basis.
12 For the younger audience, HPB Online boasts many other new media components such as online games and quizzes, popular downloadable widgets for desktops, and screensavers.
Building an online community of health-oriented netizens
13 With time and progressive enhancements, HPB Online hopes to progress beyond a reliable one-stop health information portal and evolve into a platform to inspire, encourage and link the public in their quest towards a healthier lifestyle, and build an online community of health-oriented netizens.