YouTube launches new feature for registered health professionals to reach people

Building on its previously launched health source information panels and health content shelves, it is bringing up applications for registered doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, and health information providers to make their channels eligible for their health product features

New Delhi: Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday announced new features to help Indian viewers find high-quality health information from healthcare professionals.

Building on its previously launched health source information panels and health content shelves, it is bringing up applications for registered doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, and health information providers to make their channels eligible for their health product features.

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“This will allow us to expand to include high quality information from a wider group of healthcare channels,” Dr. Garth Graham, Director and Head of YouTube Health, in a blogpost.

“The expansion represents a big step towards helping people more easily find and connect with content that comes from the extraordinary community of healthcare creators on YouTube, the smart, dedicated and creative folks who are transforming the ways that we share medical information,” he added.

The new feature will make it easier for people to find high-quality information and avoid health misinformation. The health professionals will be able to connect people with helpful content, and answer their questions.

“At YouTube, we want to harness the opportunity of the internet to help people find high quality information. We want to provide equitable access to highly authoritative health information that is evidence-based. We’re doing this with a focus on two key areas information quality and information equity,” Graham said.

Registered health professionals who follow best practices for health information sharing as set out by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, the National Academy of Medicine and the World Health Organization, and have a channel in good standing on YouTube can apply.

YouTube will review the applications, and verify the license of the applying healthcare professional. The channels that qualify  “will have health source information panels underneath their videos, to help viewers identify them as authoritative sources,” Graham said.

The content from these health creators will also be included and highlighted within health content shelves when viewers search for health topics.

In addition, YouTube is also expanding efforts to support more healthcare institutions to create and amplify authoritative content, covering more than 140+ conditions including physical and mental health, Graham said. These will be available across Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi, and English.