E-drug: [GKD] Global Directory of Health Information Resource Centres
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[Copied from TECHNETS with thanks. KM]
Friends,
I am pleased to announce the publication of the first edition of the Global
Directory of Health Information Resource Centres on
This is the first edition of the largest global listing of health
information resource centres, with data pertaining to about 1,000 centres.
You may consult or download the entire Directory at the site, or just pick
out letters of the alphabet to select countries that are of interest.
The Directory is an ongoing work, and will be updated, We aim to refine the
data, and invite all readers to suggest improvements and provide better
information. There are questionnaires available on the site in English,
French, Russian, Spanish, Swahili.
The Directory is a product of the Health Information for Development (HID)
project, which was launched in January 2000 to compile the Directory.
Support for this project was provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Children's Vaccine Program at the Program for Appropriate Technology for
Health (PATH).
The project was the fruit of 18 months of intensive work among non-
governmental and international bodies. Discussions took place from early
1999 within the Health Information Forum (HIF), a bimonthly meeting uniting
most of those active in health information development in the UK, along
with numerous international and regional organizations. The focus of
discussion was the concepts of "Information Waystations" and "Staging
Posts". Information Waystations bridge the digital divide - the focus is on
bringing the technology to the developing countries and training people on
how to use it to obtain health information. Staging Posts aim at bridging
the information divide - the focus is on adapting the information materials
received in such a way as to make them more appropriate for local use.
With the stimulus of interest from a major donor, a draft project proposal
was prepared covering Information Waystations and Staging Posts, which was
reviewed at the first meeting of the HIF's Staging Posts Action Group
(SPAG). Discussions went on through numerous meetings and on an e-mail list
(which has collected some 3,000 e-mail messages to date).
Finally, a plenary meeting of the Health Information Forum was held in
London at the Royal Society of Physicians on 7 September 1999, chaired by
Dr Richard Smith, Editor of the British Medical Journal. At this meeting,
it was proposed that the initial research phase, geared at making an
assessment of the real needs in the countries, should be treated as a
separate entity. The Health Information for Development project was thus
brought into existence. By November 1999, PATH had agreed to fund the
creation of the Directory as a first step.
The Health Information for Development project is seen as the initial needs
assessment phase of the much-larger, $45 m/�30 m Information Waystations
and Staging Posts project, which aims to establish a global network of
1,000 health information resource centres that will provide locally
appropriate content on health issues. We are currently looking for funding
for various seed projects related to this concept.
Any comments would be welcome.
Chris
Chris Zielinski
Director, Health Information for Development project
P.O. Box 40,
Petersfield, Hants GU32 2YH,
United Kingdom
Tel: 0044-1730-301297
Mobile: 0797-10-45354
Fax: 0044-1730-265398
e-mail: dvt@compuserve.com
web site: http://www.iwsp.org
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