HispanicBusiness

UnitedHealthcare's Latino Health Solutions has launched a bilingual mobile website that provides health and wellness information tailored to Hispanics' specific cultural and language needs, the company announced in a news release.

The mobile website, which can be accessed by entering m.uhclatino.com on a smartphone browser, offers extensive, culturally relevant health and wellness information, tools and resources in both English and Spanish.

Rather than returning to a home page to switch languages, users of the new mobile website can toggle between English and Spanish on every page to access health content, including fitness tips, recipes, and a glossary of health and insurance terms. This feature makes it easier for all Hispanics -- Spanish-speaking, predominantly English-speaking and bilingual -- to share health information with relatives and friends, according to the release. The website also offers tips for healthy living and audio podcasts with health messages in Spanish or English -- all without having to use a computer.

In addition to health information accessible to the public at large, the new mobile website enables UnitedHealthcare plan participants to contact bilingual customer service by clicking on the number from their mobile devices.

Hispanics suffer disproportionately from chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity, and health literacy rates among Hispanics are lower than those of non-Hispanic white adults. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the percentage of adults with basic or below basic health literacy is 65 percent for Hispanic adults, compared to 28 percent for non-Hispanic white adults.

"Better health and wellness education leads to better health," said Russ Bennett, UnitedHealthcare's vice president of Latino Health Solutions. "With Hispanics leading the charge in using mobile devices to access health information, the time was right for a mobile website that provides hundreds of pages of health information that Hispanics can relate to and can use while they are on the go."

A study by the Pew Research Center shows that more than 80 percent of U.S. Hispanics own a cell phone. Hispanics rely heavily on mobile devices to access the Internet, stay up-to-date with the world, and connect with friends and family.

More than 25 percent of U.S. Hispanics have used a mobile phone to look up health information at least once, and 11 percent of Hispanics have a software application to help them track or manage their health, compared to only 7 percent of mobile users among the general population.

"Health literacy largely depends on ready access to information that is both easy to understand and engaging," said Bennett. "With that goal in mind, we developed a mobile website that is uncomplicated, entertaining and full of culturally relevant and practical health and wellness information that can be used instantly in Hispanic households."

For more information, visit www.uhclatino.com or access the mobile website from your smartphone browser at: m.uhclatino.com.