AFRO-NETS> CD-ROMs for health care in developing countries

["Neil Pakenham-Walsh" <health@inasp.info>]

CD-ROMs for health care in developing countries
-----------------------------------------------
 
You are warmly invited to attend the next HEALTH INFORMATION 
FORUM meeting, which will be held at the Wellcome Trust, 183 Eus-
ton Road, London, on Tuesday 25 November 2003, 14:00 - 17:00h. 
Registration (with refreshments) is at 14:00h.
 
The theme of the meeting is: 
'THE ROLE OF CD-ROMs FOR HEALTHCARE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES'
 
This meeting is intended for sharing of experience on the produc-
tion and application of CD-ROMs for healthcare in developing 
countries, and to discuss ways forward to maximize their impact.
 
Why is the Health Information Forum looking at CD-ROMs?
 
1. Because CD-ROMs are one of the most appropriate, yet most ne-
glected new technologies for health information in developing 
countries. Thousands of hours are spent in international confer-
ences discussing how to increase access to affordable, fast 
internet. In the meantime, the reality is that most health pro-
fessionals (indeed, many health *information* professionals) do 
not have fast reliable access. Previous discussions on HIF-net at 
WHO suggest many users prefer CD-ROMs. By contrast, some commer-
cial publishers are willing to make their web-based products 
available free to developing countries, but not their CD-ROMs - 
and part of the reason for this is fear of piracy.
 
2. Another reason we are holding this meeting is to increase 
awareness about the range of CD-ROMs available. Such information 
is currently hard to find. Many of these CD-ROMs are produced by 
non-profit organizations and are free to users in developing 
countries, yet there is no place that users can go to find the 
full range of what is available. One of the challenges for this 
meeting will be to ask: What can be done to make it easier for 
people to find out what is available in different subjects, for 
different types of health worker, in different settings?
 
3. Most importantly, little is known about how to make CD-ROMs 
more relevant and easy to use for health professionals. We need 
to hear more about the experience of those who *use* CD-ROMs in 
their daily work.
 
YOUR INPUT 
We would like to ask all to help address these questions. We are 
especially interested to hear from health professionals, librari-
ans, publishers and others in developing and emerging countries. 
Do you find CD-ROMs are useful for your work? If so, which CD-
ROMs do you find most useful, and Why? Please e-mail your com-
ments and suggestions to: mailto:hif-net@who.int
 
PROGRAMME 
>From 2-3pm we are holding an international CD-ROM exhibition for 
leading CD-ROM producers to exhibit and discuss their products.
 
>From 3-5pm we shall have plenary and small group sessions looking 
at issues around the development and application of CD-ROM tech-
nologies, including short presentations from MMA HealthServe, e-
TALC, and the Wellcome Trust Publishing Group (producers of 'Top-
ics in International Health'. The meeting will be chaired by Dr 
Rajendra Kale, Editorials Editor of the British Medical Journal.
 
CD-ROM EXHIBITORS will include:
* e-TALC, UK
* Healthlink Worldwide, UK
* Human Info NGO, Belgium
* Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium
* Malaria On-Line Project, Perth, Australia
* MMA Healthserve (Medical Missionary Association), UK: Launch of
  new CD-ROM 'Health Development'
* Nutrition Society, UK
* Tearfund, UK
* Wellcome Trust, UK
 
Other organizations are invited to exhibit their CD-ROMs for 
health professionals in developing countries? If you would like 
your CD-ROM(s) to be included in the exhibition, please send 
it/them *before 20 November* to:
 
Helen Tysoe (or Ruth Brassington)
Publishing Group
Wellcome Trust
183 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE, UK
 
LEAD SPEAKERS will include:
* Stephen Fouch, MMA Healthserve, UK
* Steve Wayling, TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training
  in Tropical Diseases, Geneva)
* David Chandler, e-TALC, UK
* Tim Beanland, Wellcome Trust, UK
 
The meeting is FREE of charge thanks to complimentary facilities 
from the Wellcome Trust, and sponsorship from the BMJ Publishing 
Group and Exchange <www.healthcomms.org>.
 
Health Information Forum meetings are open to all with an inter-
est. We regret, however, that travel and accommodation expenses 
are *not* available.
 
If you would like to attend, please send an e-mail to 
Neil Pakenham-Walsh <health@inasp.info>
 
Thanks,
 
Neil Pakenham-Walsh
mailto:health@inasp.info
 
On behalf of the HIF ORGANIZING GROUP
* Ahmed Aliko (Institute of Psychiatry, London)
* Ruth Brassington (Wellcome Trust)
* Paul Chinnock (Cochrane Collaboration)
* Luis Cuervo (BMJ 'Clinical Evidence')
* David Curtis (Healthlink Worldwide)
* Harry McConnell (Interactive Health Network)
* Neil Pakenham-Walsh (INASP-Health) Coordinator
* Ahmad Risk (Health Informatics Europe)
* Jean Shaw (Partnerships in Health Information)
* Rachel Stancliffe (Update Software)
* David Tibbutt (CME Uganda)
* Seshadri Vasan (Journal Server Trust, Oxford)
* Christopher Zielinski (Information Waystations and Staging
  Posts Network)
 
For further details on Health Information Forum, including pro-
ceedings of previous meetings, see: 
http://www.inasp.info/health

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