Women's Key Health Issues Now Available Online

According to Dr Andrew Dean, Medical Director for the Virtual Medical Centre (VMC) Australian women are leading the way in actively researching and learning of health related issues. To help foster this need for accurate health information, the Virtual Medical Centre today launched the Virtual Women's Health website www.virtualwomenshealth.com.

Dr Dean said the philosophy behind the development of this new website is to allow women easier access to up-to-the-minute female health information in the comfort of their own home, whether they are located in the city or in regional Australia."Women are more likely to be the family member searching the internet for information regarding health and with our lifestyle becoming more demanding and hectic, VMC wants to provide the most effective communication method on health to all Australians," Dr Dean said.To assist women with accurate and easily accessible health information the Virtual Medical Centre launched the website: www.virtualwomenshealth.com. "Importantly women can seek expert medical information that can answer questions they may not think to ask when visiting their own Doctor," Dr Dean said. "Women can benefit from researching their own health and practicing healthy lifestyles and behaviours, such as regular exercise, nutritious diets and disease screening," Dr Dean said.Renowned advocate for women's wellbeing and CEO of the Breast Cancer Foundation of WA, Ms Ros Worthington OAM said that the website is an important part of the education process for women particularly concerning sensitive health issues such as Breast Cancer and mental health."I am particularly impressed with the indigenous information on the website as the Breast Cancer Foundation is working very hard in improving this area for women in particularly regional and remote parts of Western Australia," Ms Worthington said.According to Dr Dean the overall health of Australian women compares favourably with other countries and Australia ranks tenth in terms of total life expectancy at birth. Australian women can generally expect to live well into their 80's, which is several years longer than males. "However, many Australian women remain burdened by chronic and disabling diseases of which heart disease and stroke are the most common. Other major health concerns include cancer, particularly of the breast, colon (large intestine), lung and skin, which numerous Australian women die from each year," he said."Mental health is also an emerging disease category amongst women and conditions associated with child birth are unique considerations for women," he said.Supported by more than 700 medical professionals around Australia, the VMC's women's health website is one of 18 online sites available to Australians on a range of health issues. The site is updated daily with the latest information supplied directly by medical professionals and is available at no cost Australia wide.