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Education
Children’s health web site receives
$4.5 million
TORONTO – Health Minister Leona
Aglukkaq announced the Government of Canada would contribute $4.5
million over three years to AboutKidsHealth. The website and resource
centre, created and operated by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids),
provides parents, children and health-care professionals 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 healthcare professionals,” said
Minister Aglukkaq. “I am delighted to be making an investment that will
allow AboutKidsHealth to continue doing its important work, while
growing into a resource that will serve even more Canadians through
strategic partnerships with other institutions across the country.”
The infusion of money 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 the years to come.
Launched in 2004, AboutKidsHealth receives more than 140,000 visitors in
an average month, according to Dr. Ross Hetherington, Director of
AboutKidsHealth.
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 helps us share our knowledge on a national and international
scale,” said 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 English, French and Chinese
in the summer, plans are also under way to have key sections made
available in Spanish, Arabic, Urdu, Tamil, Portuguese and Punjabi,
thanks to a contribution by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
For more information on AboutKidsHealth, please visit
www.aboutkidshealth.ca
Published February 11,2010
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