Every Victorian should have equal access to cancer information and support that they understand.
The below resources provide cancer information in an easy English format. These resources can be helpful to those with a learning disability, low literacy, low health literacy, and those who are not familiar with English.
You can also access cancer information and resources in other languages.
List of resources
For Health Professionals
The way cancer information is delivered by health professionals can make a significant difference to the way people understand that information. These easy read resources can be given to patients, carers, and loved ones to support them through their cancer experience.
New Accessibility Toolbar
The Cancer Council Victoria website now has an accessibility toolbar to help more Victorians get cancer information and support. The online inclusion toolkit assists those who experience online barriers due to a vision or hearing impairment, learning disability, or who use another language at home.
Located at the top right corner of the website, the toolkit has features such as audio downloads, plain text options, reading options and more.
What is health literacy?
Health literacy describes how people access, understand, and use information to manage their health.
Access – is the ability to find information, as well as the availability of the information for people to access. For example, a person cannot learn about their cancer treatment options if there is no information available for them to learn from.
Understand – once the information is accessible, it must be delivered in a way that can be understood.
Use - once people have the health information they need and understand that information, they are then able to make informed decisions about their health.
Improving health literacy and creating better health outcomes
People with low levels of health literacy are more likely to have poor health behaviours and lifestyles and are at higher risk of worse health outcomes.
When health literacy is improved, it is more likely that people make informed decisions that better their health, engage with health professionals, manage their own care, and participate in health services such as cancer screening.
Informative animations
What is cancer?
Cancer treatments and side effects