Just last week, my father-in-law in Chennai was experiencing chest pains. One of the first things our family back in the U.S. did was to look online for “heart attack” and “heart attack symptoms”. It wasn’t just us searching either: our relatives in India were searching too. Fortunately, my father-in-law got the care he needed quickly and is now fine, but it was important for our family to be able to find information about what his symptoms could mean and what he was experiencing.
Around the world, health conditions are among the most important things that people ask Google about. In fact, one in 20 searches are for health-related information. From today, you’ll be able to find health information more quickly and easily with the launch of health information in the Knowledge Graph in India. Next time you ask Google about common health conditions, we’ll show you information cards with typical symptoms, as well as details on how common the condition is — whether it’s critical, if it’s contagious, what ages it affects, and more.
You’ll be able to see these new cards when you search for conditions with the Google app on your Android or iOS phone or tablet, as well as your mobile and desktop browser. For some conditions you’ll also see high-quality illustrations from licensed medical illustrators. You can also search by symptom: if you look for “Madras eye symptoms,” you’ll be taken straight to the symptom tab and you can easily download a PDF copy of these to print.
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| Health cards for Type 2 Diabetes, Dengue fever and Obesity |
The new cards cover over 400 health conditions and have been designed with the Indian context in mind. Available in Hindi and English, the cards cover common tropical conditions like malaria and dengue fever. Sometimes connectivity in India can be a challenge, so if you’re on a bad connection we’ll load a “lighter” version of the cards so you can get to the information you’re looking for quickly.
India is the third country after the U.S. and Brazil to have health information in the Knowledge Graph. We consulted and worked closely with a team of local and international doctors to curate and validate this information. Here in India we worked with Apollo Hospitals and the Columbia Asia Hospitals to carefully review the content. We also consulted with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and ASHAs, who are community health workers, during product development to ensure the information the cards present is useful and accessible.
These search results are not intended as medical advice — we advise that you always consult a medical professional if you have a health-related concern. What we present is intended for informational purposes only. Once you get this basic info from Google, we hope to make it easier for you to do more research on other sites around the web, or know what questions to ask your doctor. We’ll keep working to bring more conditions and useful health information specifically for India to your fingertips, whether in the Google app or on desktop.
Posted by Prem Ramaswami, Senior Product Manager, Search