Can we achieve 'Health
Information for All by 2015'?
introduction to the Global Review
Contents
Najeeb Al-Shorbaji is Regional Advisor for
Health Information at the WHO Eastern
Mediterranean Regional Office. The review fits within the core
functions of WHO as a knowledge-based organization. Issues to be addressed in
the review include: (1) An audit/inventory of what the international community
has done to promote and strengthen health information support in developing
countries; (2) Critical analysis of the impact of the work of the international
community in support of health information in developing countries; and (3) How
relevant is the work done and how receptive are developing countries?
WHO/EMRO's role in the review is to present the work done in the Eastern
Mediterranean Region, showing cases, projects and lessons learnt over the last
10 years.
Rana Jawad Asghar is the coordinator of the South Asian Public Health Forum and
will facilitate the Global Review in this region. South Asia is a region where
on the one hand technology is most advanced and on the other hand nearly 50% of
its kids are malnourished, and 40% of its population live on less than US$1 per
day. It is thus important to find innovative but affordable and effective
techniques to deliver health information in this region. SAPHF was established
in 1999 and is an active online forum for South Asian public health
professionals, and will elicit the opinions and needs of the majority of health
professionals in this region whose voices are not usually heard. Jawad has more
than a decade of international public health experience in Asia, Africa,
Europe, and America. He is interested in newer technologies to disseminate
health information more effectively and efficiently in developing countries. He
has just finished working on a child survival project in Mozambique, and
previously worked as a faculty member at the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine and for Stanford University as a Research Associate in the
Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine. He has also worked as
a consultant for various organizations and governments, and has been selected
as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), USA.
Ibrahima Bob is president of AHILA, the Association for Health Information and
Libraries in Africa. He also works at Africa Consultants International,
an American Dakar based NGO in Senegal specialising in communication for
development. His professional interests include improving access to information
in developing countries, Internet training, and information resources for developing
countries. Ibrahima Bob is also the Francophone West Africa Regional
coordinator for the Open Knowledge network (OKN) an initiative of the DOTForce:
the Digital Opportunity Task Force set up by the G8 Heads of State to make a
decisive contribution to bridging the digital divide.
Paul Chinnock represents The Cochrane Collaboration,
an international initiative dedicated to improving healthcare for the world's
population. It helps people make well-informed decisions about healthcare by
preparing, maintaining and promoting the accessibility of Cochrane systematic
reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions. Systematic reviews bring
together research on the effects of healthcare and are considered the gold
standard for determining the relative effectiveness of different interventions.
The Collaboration is the world's leading producer of these reviews, which are
of direct relevance to clinicians, patients and their representatives, policy
makers, health commentators, and others. The Collaboration thus plays a pivotal
role in the production and dissemination of research evidence across all areas
of healthcare. The Global Review will help the Collaboration to target relevant
information to those who need it, to improve the ways in which this is done, and
to ensure that its work proceeds as part of a coordinated global effort. Paul
Chinnock's background includes work in Africa as a teacher and as a
nutritionist. He has been Editor of several journals of continuing medical
education aimed specifically at developing countries; these include Medicine
Digest, Africa Health, and Caribbean Health. He has worked as a consultant
editor and writer for several organisations, including the World Health
Organization, the UK Department for International Development, the Panos
Institute, and Healthlink Worldwide.
Bruce Dahlman is Medical Director at Kijabe
Hospital, Kenya and local Programme Coordinator for the Master of Medicine
Family Health programme in collaboration with Moi University Faculty of Health
Sciences in Eldoret and four other rural hospitals. The challenge remains to
develop a learner-centered, distributive education model with innovative access
to medical knowledge database resources and interactive conferencing between
sites in an infrastructure-poor setting. He also serves on the Executive
Committee of the Kenya Association of Family Physicians that is introducing
practice-based small groups for continuing professional development throughout
Kenya.
Jennifer DePasquale is the Information Resource
Manager/Scientific and Medical Editor/Communications for Better Health® Program
Coordinator for the Dreyfus Health Foundation (DHF), New York, USA. The
DHF’s Communications for Better Health® Program has the specific aim of
improving accessibility to practical, basic health information that can be used
to problem solve in the developing world. Both paper and electronic means of
information dissemination are used as appropriate. Communications for Better
Health® Programs are established in the following 14 countries: Belarus,
Bulgaria, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ghana, Guyana, Jordan, Mali, Nigeria, Romania,
Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, and Zambia. DHF's Communications for Better Health®
Country Coordinators could provide very valuable input and insights into the
Global Review. The African Communications for Better Health® Coordinators will
attend the AHILA Congress in Malawi in October 2004, and will contribute
individual country program evaluations during the Global Review stream of the
meeting, providing a review of progress, lessons learned, and ways forward in
the “local production and exchange of health learning materials.”
Communications for Better Health® Coordinators from Eastern Europe, the Middle
East, Central America, and South America will also provide country-level input
for the Global Review.
John Evans is manager of publishing and
bookselling at the University of Papua
New Guinea. He is also adviser at the Papua New Guinea National
HIV/AIDS Support Project. The project is aiming to place print and CDROM health
collections at all hospitals, nurse training institutions, research
institutions, universities, relevant NGOs, teacher training and functioning
public libraries as well as national and provincial AIDS offices in Papua New
Guinea. John Evans will coordinate the Western Pacific region component for the
Global Review on Access to Health Information, with a particular focus on Papua
New Guinea and information literacy. A major national health meeting is planned
for Papua New Guinea in November 2004. John Evans aims to ensure that space is
allocated at the meeting for a presentation and discussion on
progress/lessons-learned/ways forward for health information access in Papua
New Guinea.
Fiona Godlee is Head of BMJ Knowledge and Editor of Clinical Evidence. She
trained in general medicine and was previously an editor on the BMJ, president
of the World Association of Medical Editors, and Editorial Director of the open
access publisher, BioMed Central. She authored, with Neil Pakenham-Walsh and
others, a discussion paper commissioned by WHO on access to information for
health professionals in the developing world, which calls for universal access
to essential healthcare information by 2015. A version of this paper will be
published in the July 17-23 issue of The Lancet (currently freely available
early online at www.thelancet.com) as part of the launch of the Global
Review.
Jane Hogg from The
Wellcome Trust. The Wellcome Trust is an independent
research-funding charity. Its mission is to “foster and promote research with
the aim of improving human and animal health.” It is committed, through its
International Programmes, to supporting research into the major diseases
affecting the developing and restructuring world and to building research
capacity in these regions. The Trust has a fundamental interest in the
availability and accessibility of research and supports open and unrestricted
access to the published output of research. The Trust’s particular
interest within the global review is in encouraging the exploration of
objective information on the impact of open access publishing on journals,
researchers, and other users of biomedical research in developing countries,
enabling the Trust to take forward its commitment to open access for the
greatest benefit.
Susan Jupp is the Head of Communications and
Information at the Geneva-based Global
Forum for Health Research. The Global Forum for Health Research is an
independent international foundation promoting more health research to combat
the neglected diseases and conditions that are major sources of ill health in
developing countries. Since its establishment in 1998, the Global Forum has
worked to draw attention to the “10/90 gap”: the estimation that less than 10%
of global resources for health research are spent each year on addressing 90%
of the world’s health problems. In 2004, the Global Forum is particularly
looking at the health research necessary to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals; the theme of the two major meetings that will take place in Mexico City
from 16 to 20 November 2004: the Global Forum’s 2004 annual meeting, Forum 8,
and the Ministerial Summit on Health Research organized by WHO and the Mexican
Ministry of Health. Space has been reserved in Forum 8 for a presentation of
the Global Review and discussion of progress, lessons learned, and ways forward
for health information access.
Bruce Madge is representing the Medical Library Association. Founded
on May 2, 1898, by four librarians and four physicians, the Medical Library Association (MLA) is
the second oldest special library association in the United States. MLA is
dedicated to improving excellence and leadership of the health information
professional to foster the art and science of health information services. We
further the professional development of our members through career information
resources, meetings, publications, courses, awards, scholarships, and various
support services. As one of her priorities, 2003/04 President Pat Thibodeau,
set up the Task Force for Global Initiatives with the following remit: a.
Explore and define global partnerships and initiatives that strengthen access
to health information and the quality of care across the world. b. Identify and
recognize those members and units of MLA who have built international
partnerships, programs and opportunities. c. Build bridges with publishers,
associations, societies and others involved in developing and distributing
biomedical information. d. Advocate MLA’s and MLA members’ potential as
collaborators and partners, in light of globalization and its impacts on health
care understanding and delivery. e. Monitor and respond to federal and national
legislation that impacts access to health care information for the
professional, consumer and society. In 2004, MLA nominated Bruce Madge,
Research Manager at the National Patient Safety Agency and member of the Task
Force, as their representative on the steering group of the Global Review.
Harry McConnell is a Neurologist and Director of
the Interactive Health Network,
non-profit organisation using information and communication technologies to
address health inequities in developing countries. The Interactive Health
Network is focused on critical issues in global health including HIV, malaria,
and tuberculosis and uses a variety of innovative networks to achieve dialogues
between policy makers and health care providers in Africa, Asia, the Pacific
and Latin America. Dr McConnell has worked extensively with many eLearning and
health communications technologies in resource-poor settings and specialises in
reaching remote areas for health information and interactive dialogues in
critical topics for development.
Pascal Mouhouelo is Reference Librarian at
the World Health Organization Africa
Regional Office, Brazzaville, Congo. He was involved in the African
Index Medicus (AIM)Project and is one of the WHO facilitators in charge of training
in the use of the Blue Trunk Libraries (BTL) in health Districts. He has
already trained BTL Managers in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, D. R.
Congo, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Rwanda, Uganda and Senegal. Pascal Mouhouelo is
the moderator of AHILA-net, a discussion list for AHILA members and partners.
He has also contributed to the creation of the AFROLIB database (afrolib.afro.who.int)
Abel Packer is director of the Latin American and Caribbean Centre on
Health Sciences Information (generally known as BIREME, from its original name Biblioteca Regional de
Medicina). BIREME is an international organization that aims to improve the
access of Latin American & Caribbean health professionals to the best
available health literature, and to facilitate the dissemination and
application of Latin American health science research. BIREME/PAHO/WHO will
provide the following contributions to the Global review: (1) South to South
collaboration: Virtual Health Library methodologies, technologies and
information sources are suitable to cooperative environments with
infrastructure under development. BIREME is open to transfer the VHL model or
any of its components. (2) Development of a network of open access journals.
SciELO methodology should contribute to the electronic publication of selected
quality journals from developing countries. (3) Promotion of a network of
indicators of usage, quality and impact of health scientific information.
Neil Pakenham-Walsh has a background in medicine
and medical publishing, including work with the World Health Organization, the
journal Medicine Digest, and the CD-ROM series Topics in International Health
(Wellcome Trust). He has worked as a medical officer in rural Ecuador and Peru
and as coordinator of the Health Programme at the International Network for the
Availability of Scientific Publications. Neil is facilitating the Global
Review.
Sarah Ramsay has been a senior editor at The
Lancet medical journal for the past 12 years and has a particular
interest in communication and developing-world health. She is coordinating a
series of articles that will review the evidence on issues such as how to
develop more equitable health systems, sustainable financing, human-resource
development, promotion of quality, how to integrate vertical disease-specific
programs into health systems, and how to scale up effective interventions. The
series will be published in The Lancet in the weeks leading up to the
Ministerial Summit on Health Research, which will be held in Mexico City in
mid-November. Sarah will also be participating in the African Medical Editors
Partnership, which is being coordinated by the Council of Scientific Editors
and funded initially by the funded by the US National Library of Medicine and
the Fogarty International Center.
Lenny Rhine. One of the goals of The International Cooperation Section (ICS) of
the Medical Library Association,
USA is to provide opportunities for participation in international cooperation
projects. Since 1973, the section has coordinated the Cunningham Memorial
International Fellowship that trains international medical librarians in North
America. From 2001-04, the section developed library partnerships to the
Medical Research Library of Latvia and the Holberton Hospital Medical Library
in St John’s, Antigua. In May 2004, a Committee for Health Sciences
Library Partnerships was organized to facilitate and foster such relationships.
The committee is interested in the Global Review so that we can better
facilitate these exchanges and collaborate with similar organizations such as
the UK based Partnerships In Health Information (PHI). Besides being the
representative for the ICS and a member of the Steering Group, Lenny Rhine is
also the co-compiler of the INASP Health Library Partnership Database and will
be making a brief presentation about such programs. Jean Shaw (PHI) and
Lenny Rhine are responsible for the section of the Review that pertains to
these projects. As the compiler of the INASP Health Links gateway, Lenny
is also interested in any aspects of this process that will enhance this
project and facilitate use of the website.
James Tumwine is chair of FAME, the Forum for African Medical Editors. FAME is a network of editors formed to
contribute to development in Sub Saharan Africa, through publication and timely
dissemination of quality health and development information and research. James
is also founder editor of African Health Sciences - Africa's latest
MEDLINE-indexed journal of health and development. FAME will contribute to the
Global Review through international meetings in Uganda, Kenya, Mali, and
Malawi.
Hans van der Slikke has been practicing in
obstetrics and gynaecology for more than 25 years. He is a member of the
faculty of the Department of Gynaecology, Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre,
Amsterdam. For more than six years he has been the Chairman of the International
Council for OBGYN-net (http://www.obgyn.net), the global gateway for obstetrics,
gynaecology and women’s health. He is associate editor (http://www.jmir.org/editors.htm)
of the open–access Journal of Medical Internet Research and Board Member of the
Internet Health Coalition (http://www.ihealthcoalition.org).
Since November 2000 Hans van der Slikke has been the Chairman of the Society for the Internet in Medicine
(http://www.internet-in-medicine.org/), the organisation that
organizes the yearly MEDNET conference. During the next MEDNET conference a
special session will be devoted to access to medical information.
Chris Zielinski spent over 20 years as a publisher
in WHO and FAO, working in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Chris is Principal
Consultant of Informania Ltd, the company he originally founded in 1992 to
produce ExtraMED, a database that presents the full text and images of over 300
Third World biomedical journals on a monthly CD-ROM. He is currently Director
of the Health Information for Development Project, the projected first phase of
the Information Waystations and Staging Posts project, which seeks to build the
technological capacity of some 1000 health information resource centres and
develop selected centres into large-scale producers of locally appropriate
health information. Chris serves on the board of Healthlink Worldwide. He is
currently based at WHO Geneva where he is working with The Alliance on Health Policy and Systems Research. The
Alliance is an initiative of the Global Forum for Health Research and is
centrally involved in the Global Forum for Health Research/World Summit on
Health Research, Mexico, November 2004.
The Global Review thanks the following for providing expert advice and
guidance during the Review:
Frederick Bukachi is a Kenyan physician and
cardiologist with a strong interest in health informatics. He is currently a
[1] Research Fellow in Cardiology at the Norrlands University Hospital, Umea,
Sweden;[2] a board member of Healthnet Kenya - a successful HealthNet model in
Africa, and [3] a founder and board member of International Partnership for
Health (IPH) a not-for-profit based in Chicago, USA. Dr. Bukachi previously
worked as SatelLife's regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa
coordinating HealthNet in that region. He has also served as a consultant,
board member and advisor to several international organizations working to
improve access to health information in Africa. Dr. Bukachi has written and
spoken extensively on the subject of using information and communications technologies
(ICTs) to access health information in Africa focusing primarily on the
challenges and opportunities.
Marietje de Villiers is head of the School of
Public and Primary Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of
Stellenbosch, Tygerberg, South Africa. Her research interests include
continuing professional development of rural doctors in southern Africa.
Paul Glasziou is a general practitioner and
director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Oxford, UK. He is also
co-editor of 'Evidence-Based Medicine', a journal which alerts clinicians to
important advances in internal medicine, general and family practice, surgery,
psychiatry, paediatrics, and obstetrics and gynaecology. 'Evidence-Based
Medicine' is published by the BMJ Publishing Group and is available free to
developing countries via HINARI. <www.cebm.net>
Edwin Mapara is a medical doctor trained at the
University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. He is currently studying at the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is a former chief medical
officer of Athlone Hospital, a 175-bed district hospital in Lobatse, Botswana,
where he established the Athlone AIDS Awareness Programme, a model which is now
being replicated in other district hospitals in Botswana. Edwin has a special
interest in HIV/AIDS and the use of health information materials -especially
TALC clinical slides - for sexual health promotion.
Maria Musoke is Medical Librarian at the Albert
Cook Medical Library, Makerere University, Uganda. Her background is in the
biological sciences and librarianship/information studies. She has been
actively involved in AHILA, Communication for Better Health (CBH), AIM and
other local, regional and international health information activities. She has
recently obtained a PhD in Information Studies from the University of
Sheffield, UK. Her interests include access to and use of health information in
rural areas.
Michel Menou is an independent consultant based
in France specialized in knowledge and information management, mostly in
developing countries. He is also a visiting professor in various universities.
He is particularly interested in monitoring and evaluation of information and
ICT projects and information impact on development.
Naina Pandita is Senior Technical Director and
Head and Project Coordinator of the ICMR-NIC Centre for Biomedical Information
(Indian MEDLARS Centre, IMC), National Informatics Centre, New Delhi, India.
She is interested in health/biomedical information especially digital resources
and open access initiatives. IMC has designed two databases, IndMED, a
bibliographic database of peer reviewed Indian biomedical journals and medIND,
full-text of select IndMED journals. These are accessible free of cost from the
Centre's site. <http://indmed.nic.in>
Helen Strong works with Interprax Ltd, South
Africa. Interprax develops software applications in medical records and health
inforamtion management systems, and technology for distribution and updating of
information. Interprax has particular experience in access to information in
rural areas of developing countries.