A blog covering the health/care ecosystem and people.

Welcome, HolaDoctor, to the growing roster of consumer-facing health portals. La differencia, this time, is that HolaDoctor is an entirely Spanish-speaking website of comprehensive health information. The site focuses on health content and tools highly targeted to Hispanics and health issues of most concern.

Known previously as DrTango, founded in 1999, HolaDoctor has at least 1.3 million Hispanic consumers who have registered on its site, and operates over 500 multilingual health websites under its corporate umbrella.

The morphing from DrTango to HolaDoctor has to do with the organization’s launch of its consumer-focused health and wellness portal reaching out to Spanish speakers in the U.S., Latin America and Spain.

HolaDoctor works with Consumer Reports and Healthwise (of famed Healthwise Handbook) along with media company Univision.

You can follow this innovative organization on Twitter @HolaDoctor.

Health Populi’s Hot Points:  To paraphrase Tip O’Neill, all health care is local, and it’s also very personal. Hispanic people have health issues that can be different from people from other ethnic groups. For example, in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control recognizes that diabetes is a particular health management challenge for Hispanics and launched the National Hispanic/Latino Diabetes Initiative for Action. TuDiabetes is one excellent digital resource that a growing number of Spanish-speakers are using to manage the epidemic.

Other health disparities impact Hispanics disproportionately in America. Breast cancer is the number one cause of death among Hispanic women. HIV infections among Hispanics is 2.5 the rate of that for Caucasians in the U.S.

Access to useful, useable, and well-designed health information is a precursor for health engagement. That HolaDoctor is attending to this, and providing the information and tools in Spanish, will help Hispanic people better engage in health and positively impact health outcomes. This is one important component for addressing health disparities in the U.S. Gracias, HolaDoctor!