VIDEO: App to help women better understand breast cancer risks

A health literacy smart phone app has been developed to help people at risk of breast cancer better understand the condition, after a major study found the vast majority of information about the illness on the web is inaccurate.

The National Adult Literacy Agency and University College Cork have developed the vital public service system in response to research by Cork University Hospital into the potentially fatal illness.

As part of an examination of what information is available on breast cancer to the general population, experts from CUH’s oncology unit found that as much as 90% of advice and details on the condition available on the internet is either inaccurate or almost impossible to read.