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Better Health Channel

Better Health Channel (BHC) website and mobile app promotes health literacy and healthy living by providing health consumers with trusted, reliable and easy to understand information, quality assured by the Department of Health and Human Services, Victoria.

Better Health Channel is helping Victorians achieve the best possible health and wellbeing and has become one of Australia’s leading consumer health and medical information websites.

The website content is developed by health experts across government and the health sector, and quality reviewed every 12 months to provide users with confidence when making health decisions. It does not however replace care provided by medical practitioners and other qualified health professionals.

Better Health Channel reflects a wide range of health interests in the community, and content decisions are based on:

  • current and emerging health issues
  • developments in medical research and practice
  • national and state health priorities
  • requests from Better Health Channel users and content partners
  • findings from evidence based research
  • analysis of website statistics.

Last reviewed: June 2015

Information from this partner

Found 464 results

Chronic illness - coping at school

Beginning primary school, or moving to secondary school, can be a challenging time for any student and family. This can be even harder when the student has a chronic (ongoing) health condition. To get the most out of their schooling, students with a chronic illness need ongoing and coordinated support from their families, schools and medical carers.

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Amyloidosis - Better Health Channel

A person with amyloidosis produces aggregates of insoluble protein that cannot be eliminated from the body.

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Hysteroscopy

A hysteroscopy is a procedure to look at the inside of your uterus (womb) using a small telescope (hysteroscope). It is common for a biopsy (removing small pieces of the lining of your womb) to be performed at the same time.

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Noonan syndrome

Noonan syndrome is a genetic condition that usually includes heart abnormalities and characteristic facial features. About one third of affected children have mild intellectual disability. Noonan syndrome varies from relatively mild to severe. In some cases, the physical characteristics are so subtle that the child doesn’t look noticeably different.

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Angelman syndrome

Angelman syndrome is a genetic condition that is present at birth (congenital). It causes intellectual disability and other features. Other characteristics of Angelman syndrome include distinctive facial features, mental retardation, speech problems and hyperactive behaviour. In most cases, the cause is a missing section (deletion) on the mother’s copy of chromosome 15.

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Artificial cardiac pacemakers - Better Health Channel

A person with an artificial cardiac pacemaker can live a normal life and can still perform moderate to strenuous activities.

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Rectocele - Better Health Channel

A rectocele is when the rectum protrudes into the vagina.

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Podiatrist - Better Health Channel

Podiatrists treat conditions of the feet and legs.

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Tay-Sachs disease

Tay-Sachs disease (TSD) is an inherited condition that tends to affect people of central and northern European Jewish (Ashkenazi) or French-Canadian ancestry. The faulty gene targets the nervous system. Symptoms first appear at around six months of age in a previously healthy baby. Over a short period of time, the baby stops moving and smiling, becomes paralysed and eventually dies. Most children with TSD die before their fifth birthday. There is no cure.

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Kidney disease

Each year, more than 500,000 Australians consult their doctors about kidney disease and urinary tract infections. One in three Australian adults is at increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease, and one in ten has some sign of chronic kidney disease.

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