The tool is intended to help people better understand the illness, get a diagnosis, manage their symptoms and access support. Photo: befunky.com
A free comprehensive online tool has been released today to help those suffering from Long Covid.
Chronic fatigue support group, ME Support, said people with Long Covid have been calling for more support and information for the past two years, and its tool could help hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders with Long Covid symptoms.
The tool is intended to help people to better understand the illness; get a diagnosis; manage their symptoms and energy levels; and access support to improve their health and well-being.
Manager and vice president of ME Support, Kate Duder, said: "It is estimated that 10-20 percent of everyone who had Covid-19 will experience Long Covid symptoms, that's over 250,000 New Zealanders, and some are very severe, leaving them unable to work or carry out normal daily tasks."
She said the tool consisted of "a comprehensive series of videos ... for anybody who has or thinks that they might have Long Covid".
The videos covered a range of topics and symptoms, including energy, sleep, pain management and nutritional support.
Duder said there was also supplementary information that people could download or click through and symptom tracking tools.
"This support tool will be vital to the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders."
She said it was the first comprehensive Long Covid tool for Kiwis.
"There's little bits of information out there, but they're kind of scattered and this is the first comprehensive tool that we've got all in one place that has all the information that somebody might need and all on one page."
The tool was created by ME Support with funding supplied by Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand.
