Access to Research for Developing Countries
World Health Organisation
Who And Top Publishers Launch "Access To
Research" Internet Initiative For Developing Countries
Many thousands of doctors, researchers, health policy-makers and others in
about 70 developing countries now have free access through the Internet to one
of the world's largest collections of biomedical literature. They will benefit
from an initiative launched by the World Health Organization and the world's six
biggest medical journal publishers, which WHO Director-General Dr Gro Harlem
Brundtland has described as "perhaps the biggest step ever taken towards
reducing the health information gap between rich and poor countries."
The "Access to Research" initiative enables accredited
universities, medical schools, research centres and other public institutions in
the developing countries to gain access to the wealth of scientific information
contained in more than 1000 different biomedical journals produced by the six
publishers. Until now, subscriptions to these journals, both electronic and
print, have been priced uniformly for such institutions, irrespective of
geographical location. Many key titles cost more than US$1500 per year, and the
average subscription costs several hundred dollars, putting the journals beyond
the reach of the large majority of health and research institutions in the
poorest countries.
Last year WHO, working with the British Medical Journal, approached the six
biggest medical journal publishers: Blackwell, Elsevier Science, the Harcourt
Worldwide STM Group, Wolters Kluwer International Health & Science, Springer
Verlag and John Wiley. The aim was to bring them together with the countries
concerned to seek a more affordable pricing structure for online e-access to
their international biomedical journals.
The first stage of the initiative will make more than 1,000 of their journals
available free or at significantly reduced charges to institutions in those
countries. That availability begins with the opening of the Health InterNetwork
website: www.healthinternetwork.net.
A second stage will involve similar access at significantly reduced prices for
institutions in the other countries. WHO and the publishers will work with the
Open Society Institute of the Soros foundation network and other public and
private partners to extend the initiative; for example, through training for
research staff, and improving Internet connectivity.
The "Access to Research" initiative is expected to last for at
least three years, while being monitored for progress. Decisions about how to
proceed with further developments will grow from the precedent it sets, and will
be informed by the working relationships which have evolved among the publishers
and participating institutions.
The initiative itself is a major aspect of the work of the Health
InterNetwork project which was introduced by United Nations' Secretary-General
Kofi Annan at the UN Millennium Summit in the year 2000. Led by WHO, the Health
InterNetwork aims to strengthen public health services by providing public
health workers, researchers and policy makers access to high-quality, relevant
and timely health information through an Internet portal. It further aims to
improve communication and networking. As key components, the project will
provide training as well as information and communication technology
applications for public health.
The project is led by Dr Michael Scholtz, Special Representative of the WHO
Director-General. He says: "Today sees the beginning of a new way to bridge
the digital divide in health, and an important move by the publishers in
facilitating the flow of health information, using the Internet."
For a list of countries which will benefit from this enter
here
More Information: http://www.who.int/
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