AFRO-NETS> ExtraMED joins the free health information initiative

["Chris Zielinski" <dvt@CompuServe.COM>]

ExtraMED joins the free health information initiative
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ExtraMED joins the free health information initiative: Reducing the
health information gap between rich and poor countries

PRESS RELEASE: London, 23 July 2001

Informania Ltd, the world's largest electronic publisher of biomedi-
cal journals from the Third World, announced that it would provide
the ExtraMED full-text database to developing country users for free
or at very low cost, under the same terms as those announced last
week by six leading medical publishers. It would also enable the dis-
tribution of this information through a new network of health infor-
mation resource centres.

The announcement was made at a global videoconference on Universal
Access to Health Information staged at the British Medical Associa-
tion in London, chaired by Richard Smith, Editor of the British Medi-
cal Journal, and with live links to development professionals
throughout the world.

Describing the announcement, Chris Zielinski, Chief Executive of In-
formania Ltd., said, "For all the perceived evils of globalization,
the global spread of valid health information can be an unalloyed
good, and I commend the initiative of WHO and the commercial publish-
ers." However, he warned, "If all this information comes from the in-
dustrialized countries alone, and none of it is local, it could end
up being seen as a form of information colonisation."

The provision of ExtraMED - which has exclusive electronic rights to
over 300 of the leading biomedical journals published in developing
countries, and has been issuing them on monthly CD-ROMs over the last
few years - would help to balance the equation.

"It is crucial that information from the South is included in this
worthy initiative, as an act of validation and in pursuit of informa-
tion equity," Zielinski said.

Informania Ltd aimed to develop the distribution mechanism for Ex-
traMED in association with a well-known publisher, to coincide with
the launch of the major medical publishers' scheme in early 2002. He
offered the use of the recently established Information Waystations
and Staging Posts Network (www.iwsp.org) to distribute the publish-
ers' offline material, as it already links the largest collection of
health information centres in the developing world, and is set to ex-
pand rapidly.

Zielinski also called upon other electronic publishers of developing
country content to join the initiative. "We could have a comprehen-
sive offering, amounting to an alternative MEDLINE - providing the
full text of all the leading developing country journals from a sin-
gle source."

CONTACT: Chris Zielinski,
Chief Executive,
Informania Limited,
P.O. Box 40,
Petersfield,
Hants GU32 2YH,
UK
Tel: +44-1730-301-297
Fax: +44-1730-265-398
Mailto:zielinski@innermeaning.com

BACKGROUND on ExtraMED:

ExtraMED publishes the full text of 316 Third World biomedical jour-
nals as page images (print-outs look like photocopies of the actual
journal pages). Some 30,000 articles, comprising 250,000 pages, had
been included in ExtraMED by July 2000. Taking its name from the fact
that it comprises journals that are 'extra' to the MEDLINE database,
ExtraMED focuses on journals that are largely excluded from the in-
ternational indexes. The journals were originally selected through
the World Health Organization's regional Index Medicus projects. It
is by far the largest full-text source of such literature. The jour-
nals benefit from wider exposure and a share of any income generated.

Chris Zielinski started ExtraMED in 1994 while he was a Director of
Health and Biomedical Information at the World Health Organization.
Chris continued the project within his family company, Informania
Ltd.

Information about the Information Waystations and Staging Posts Net-
work is available at www.iwsp.org.

On 9 July 2001, six of the world's leading medical publishers (Black-
well Science, Elsevier Science, Harcourt International, John Wiley,
Springer Verlag, and Wolters Kluwer) joined forces with WHO in a
unique venture in which they have put profits aside to enable more
than 100 of the poorest countries in the world to access vital scien-
tific information free of charge through the Internet.


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