EU focuses on health education

The European Union has launched the European Health Information Platform, a $1.7 million multimedia initiative to improve the quality of information its citizens receive about health issues.

Also known as Health in Europe, the program will create a rights-free bank of health-related reports, documentaries, radio broadcasts and print and online articles for distribution throughout the EU.

Health in Europe initially will offer reports on health and medicine that TV broadcasters now produce for magazine shows (http://preview.healthineurope.tv), but later it will include TV documentaries produced by European public broadcasters, radio documentaries and animations that participating organizations can show on their Web sites.

"There is a need for better and more widespread information about health issues in Europe," said Markos Kyprianou, commissioner for European health and consumer protection. "This partnership will help keep citizens and, in particular, patients and health professionals informed on public health issues with a European dimension."

The program will encourage European broadcasters and other media experts to create their own health magazines, expand their use of health-related themes in existing programs, and report on breaking health stories using a variety of old and new media.