AboutKidsHealth.ca website receiving millions to provide information on children's health
Press release
Government of Canada Makes Strategic Investment in World-Leading Children's Health Website - $4.5 million will give AboutKidsHealth true national reach, long-term sustainability
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Jan. 29, 2010) - Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq today announced that the Government of Canada is contributing $4.5 million dollars over three years to AboutKidsHealth. Created and operated by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, AboutKidsHealth website (www.AboutKidsHealth.ca) and resource centre seek to provide health-care professionals, parents and children with comprehensive, authoritative and accessible information on children's health.
"AboutKidsHealth has already proven its value to hundreds of thousands of Canadian parents, young people and health-care professionals," said Minister Aglukkaq. "With this investment we will give all Canadians access to this exceptional website which delivers accurate, credible and accessible information about children's health, in a way that will benefit healthcare professionals, parents and children."
The investment will provide enough financial stability for AboutKidsHealth to build a national network of partners, better serve vulnerable populations - more specifically rural, northern and aboriginal Canadians - and allow it to move to full financial self-sufficiency in years to come.
"The information found throughout AboutKidsHealth is very impressive, both because it's so comprehensive and because it's so accessible," said Dr. David Butler-Jones, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. "It is the kind of tool that offers parents, children and health-care professionals information and tools they can use and understand."
Dr. Ross Hetherington, Director of AboutKidsHealth, explains that it was launched by SickKids in Toronto in 2004 and receives more than 140,000 visitors in an average month. Its content is supplemented by effective animations and illustrations, including more than four hours of narrated animation in its unique Just for Kids section.
"People from around the world have come to rely on the expertise that SickKids offers; AboutKidsHealth is a dynamic website and resource centre that help us share our knowledge on a national and international scale," says Dr. Susan Tallett, Chief of Education at SickKids. "At SickKids we believe that family members, including children are increasingly knowledgeable about their health conditions and it is a high priority to provide them with resources that are easy to access, developmentally appropriate and evidence informed."
While AboutKidsHealth will be available in both official languages in the summer, plans are also underway to have it translated in Chinese and key sections will be made available in Spanish, Arabic, Urdu, Tamil, Portugese and Punjabi, thanks to a contribution by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Further information can be found at Public Heath Agency of Canada (http://webqa.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/h1n1/conveyances-transport-eng.php) and at www.AboutKidsHealth.ca
For more information, please contact
Office of Leona Aglukkaq
Minister of Health
Josee Bellemare
613-957-0200
Public Health Agency of Canada
Media Relations
613-941-8189
The Hospital for Sick Children
Matet Nebres
416-813-6380
matet.nebres@sickkids.ca