According to Pharmafocus.com, Hugh Grant is one of several celebrities endorsing healthtalkonline, a new social media health site set up by Dr. Ann McPherson and geared toward providing people with patient advice, information about numerous health conditions, and a large forum where people can gather to discuss their experiences with illnesses.

In addition to sections for cancer, heart disease, pregnancy and children, chronic health issues, and living with disability, healthtalkonline also includes a mental health section. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find anything about anger management, so I’m not really sure if Grant’s been able to take a peek at any information for his own issues.

Hmm.

All snark aside, Grant’s actually backing the site for a good – yet sad – reason: Eight years ago, after an 18-month battle with pancreatic cancer, his mother passed away, and according to Grant, “It would have been very nice if this had existed when my mum was diagnosed”:

“Wonderful though the doctors were, I don’t think there’s any substitute for hearing first hand experiences of patients or people who have been close to patients. Especially on a website that is so carefully balanced and researched.”

He said the difference between Healthtalkonline and many other health sites found on the web is that content is checked for accuracy before it goes online by a team of medical experts. “[Other health sites] are just not in the same league,” he said.

I commend him. One of the most valuable sources of learning and progress comes from advocacy and while celebrity advocacy always seems to help shine a spotlight on certain issues, it’s clear Grant is doing this for reasons important to him and not for his own personal gain.

Websites of this nature aren’t really a new thing (at least, not here in the US – perhaps this is a first for the UK?), but glancing through healthtalkonline, it seems like they’re off to a good start. DIPEx, a Department of Health sponsored charity, created the site and Researchers at the University of Oxford check all information for accuracy before it’s displayed to the public. There’s also a teen version, youthhealthtalk, for younger patients.

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Carina Tuppier (August 10, 2009)

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    Last reviewed: 10 Aug 2009