I have questions about any medical information site that reports itself to be 'correct'. How is quality assurance done? Is there a board of technical experts? Any one person can never be always 'correct'.

Jamie

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Health care just a click away
Aung Phay Kyi Soe
Myanmar Times
2 May 2019

Most people who have a good command of English can easily search for health information using Google, but it can be difficult for someone who doesn’t understand English, especially in countries like Myanmar. Hello Sayarwon may have found a solution to that problem by harnessing technology and the internet to make health information available to all people in Myanmar.

“The public will get a lot of benefit from a digital health care portal in Myanmar. We want to help people get the most trustworthy health care information online and to help them better understand how to live happier and healthier lives,” said U Thurein Hlaing Win, operations director of Hello Sayarwon.

People have less time to visit doctors and patients at hospitals or clinics and sometimes have difficulty asking questions about medicine and diseases they do not understand. Hello Sayarwon promises to help solve these problems.

Over 30 million people access the internet through mobile phones in Myanmar, so even people in rural and remote areas can get health information by using Hello Sayarwon.

U Thurein Hlaing Win was careful to note that Hello Sayarwon does not try to diagnose diseases or suggest medical treatments online because it realises that offering such advice without people seeing a doctor is dangerous.

The portal fields hundreds of health questions a day from users, mostly related to sexual health. “We get a lot of questions, which shows how much people trust our team,” he said.

Hello Sayarwon has 1.5 million visitors a month to its website and 4.5 million visitors to its Facebook page. Most of its users are 22 to 34 years old, and 70 percent live in Yangon or Mandalay regions.

Two years and counting

Hello Health Group, a Singapore-based start-up that builds health care information portals in Southeast Asia, contacted U Thurein Hlaing Win in 2017. Using his experience as a doctor and a media person, he set up his company in May and launched Hello Sayarwon in August. The portal marks its second anniversary in Myanmar this month.

Hello Health Group also operates health information portals in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, offering the best medical information to help consumers make better health decisions.

Hello Sayarwon produces high-quality, reliable and engaging health content for all readers, combining medical knowledge with editorial style. Its team usually produces about 14 soft news articles a day, and is ready to produce hard news in the event of a medical emergency. There are about 8000 health articles on Hello Sayarwon.

Separating myth from reality

One of Hello Sayarwon’s most popular features is its three-minute videos that try to increase the public’s medical awareness by correcting misunderstandings and false ideas about health. U Thurein Hlaing Win appears himself in the videos.

The portal lists diseases and medicines alphabetically in both the Myanmar and English languages, providing information that will help people save time when they go see a doctor.

“Hello Sayarwon is the most complete health care information portal in Myanmar,” U Thurein Hlaing Win said. Its content spans over 10,000 topics, such as health conditions, medical tests, surgery, drugs, herbal medicine, nutrition, and family and pregnancy.

It also offers a symptom tester under “medical tools,” which people can use to find out what disease they or a loved one may have by inputting a few facts, such as feeling, age and parts of the body.

The “family & pregnancy” section offers details about the growth of a human embryo from the first week to 40 weeks.

U Thurein Hlaing Win said the portal plans to present health education programmes that are fun and interesting for the public.

“Health care information must be correct and up-to-date. People should be able to find reliable information from trustworthy providers like Hello Sayarwon instead of having to turn to fake experts and rumours,” he said.

https://www.mmtimes.com/news/health-care-just-click-away.html