Welcome to MedlinePlus en español

Hispanic TV superstar Don Francisco and the National Library of Medicine have teamed up to promote the new Spanish-language MedlinePlus.gov/salud Web site.

Don Francisco, the popular Hispanic television host, recently announced a new joint effort with the National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine to increase public awareness and promote a free, comprehensive, authoritative health information Web site for Spanish speakers in the United States and worldwide — MedlinePlus.gov, Spanish-language version (www.medlineplus.gov/salud).

The star of the popular TV variety show Sabado Gigante (Spanish for Giant Saturday) is teaming up with the world's largest medical library to mount a major public service campaign to encourage Hispanics to use MedlinePlus.gov en español for their health information needs. MedlinePlus includes information on over 700 health topics, drug and herbal supplements, interactive tutorials, and health-related news stories.

"Do you want to learn more about your health quickly and easily?" Don Francisco asks Hispanic TV and radio audiences in public service announcements released in May. He adds, "It's simple. Visit MedlinePlus, the bilingual Web site with the most complete and reliable health information in the world."

The new public service campaign, including television and radio announcements featuring Don Francisco, will target U.S. Hispanic and Latin American audiences and will encourage viewers to "get updated on their health with MedlinePlus.gov/salud." Over the years, Don Francisco, whose real name is Mario Kreutzberger, has often been described as the Spanish-speaking equivalent of Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan, or David Letterman. Sabado Gigante is as popular among Hispanic audiences in the United States (where it airs on the Univision network) as it is in countries all over Latin America. In fact, Sabado Gigante is so well known among Spanish-speaking viewers that President George W. Bush has appeared on the program twice — first in 2000 (when he was running against Al Gore), then in 2004 when Francisco interviewed both Bush and his Democratic rival, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry — who also recognized that a Sabado Gigante appearance was a perfect way to court Hispanic voters.

The National Library of Medicine is confident that Spanish speakers will be attracted to the
MedlinePlus.gov/salud Web site by the host of what is now the longest running television variety show in the world. And, Hispanics are an important population to reach. Surveys show more than 50 percent of adult Hispanics in the United States use the Internet. More than half of those, in fact, look to the Web for medical and health information. In response to this, the National Library of Medicine developed its popular consumer health information Web site, MedlinePlus, in Spanish. Now users can find many of the authoritative, full-text resources that are available on MedlinePlus "en español," too.

Examples of Don Francisco's :30 and :15 second TV public service announcements can be viewed at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/