INASP Health Links
http://www.inasp.info/links/health/

LAUNCHES TODAY!

'INASP Health Links' is a new Gateway to selected Web sites of special
interest to health professionals, medical library communities, publishers,
and NGOs in developing and transitional countries. Please have a look and
let us know what you think of the site and, especially, how we might
improve
it.

INASP Health Links consists of three sections:

1. GENERAL RESOURCES (search engines, gateways - global and regional,
bibliographic databases, abstracts, clinical trials databases, research
networks, dictionaries, glossaries, disease classifications, evidence-based
medicine, full-text E-books, image collections, journals, newsletters,
medical education resources, news, email lists, and WHO sites).

2. SUBJECT INDEX (eg Anaesthesiology, Basic Sciences, Dermatology, HIV/AIDS
etc)

3. LIBRARY AND PUBLISHING SUPPORT, AND USE OF ICTs (Information for
Development, Internet Skills, Medical Informatics/Telehealth, Publishing
Tools)

Each section consists of several pages of hyperlinks, arranged
alphabetically, and each hyperlink carries a brief description of the site
concerned.

FOCUS ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
It is estimated that there are at least 30,000 health-related sites on the
Internet - but the vast majority are targeted at users in North America and
Europe. INASP Health Links contains links to 448 selected sites, of which
160 are specifically focused on health information in developing countries.
New links will be added on a regular basis. Sites with a specific focus on
users in developing countries are clearly marked with a symbol.

Although INASP Health Links does not claim to be comprehensive, our
impression is that the many and varied needs of developing-country health
professionals (from specialist researchers to village health workers) and
health information providers (librarians, publishers and others) are,
overall, poorly addressed by existing Web resources. There are some
excellent
individual resources, but they are few and far between and there are large
gaps in coverage. We hope that INASP Health Links will help others to
identify these gaps and encourage the development of new resources to
address unmet needs.

A TEMPLATE FOR CUSTOMIZATION BY OTHERS
INASP Health Links is offered freely for use as a template by others (eg
medical school libraries, ministries of health, publishers, libraries,
NGOs)
to develop customized gateways on their own websites. This approach should
reduce the risk of duplication of effort while maximizing the usefulness of
the gateway for specific target groups.

IMPORTANT NOTE
INASP Health Links is seen to be a *short-term* contribution to help
address
the increasing demand in developing and transitional countries for easy
access to relevant, reliable health information on the Internet. INASP
Health Links has been produced with minimal resources and is not intended
to
be definitive nor comprehensive. Moreover, users should note that there has
been *no formal quality assessment* of content. It is hoped the site will
encourage the collaborative development of more comprehensive sites by
others.

In the long term, health professionals in developing and transitional
countries require an international collaborative effort to deliver
comprehensive and quality-controlled gateway services, in consultation with
end-users. Such vital initiatives are currently being planned by a range of
international organizations, including the WHO-led Health InterNetwork and
Interactive Health Network. Ideally, every site in such a gateway should be
evaluated for quality and relevance of content, as occurs with gateway
services such as the Organizing Medical Networked Information (OMNI), which
focuses on the information needs of UK health professionals.

HEALTH INFORMATION FORUM, London, 21 May 2002
INASP encourages international cooperation among existing and planned
initiatives, so that long-term solutions can be identified, implemented,
evaluated, and improved. To this end, INASP is organizing a Health
Information Forum meeting at the British Medical Association, London on 21
May 2002. The theme of the meeting is: 'INTERNET PORTALS AND GATEWAYS TO
PRACTICAL INFORMATION FOR FRONTLINE HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES'. Admission is free thanks to BMJ sponsorship but we regret that
there is no funding available for travel expenses etc. For further details,
or to reserve your place, please contact Neil Pakenham-Walsh at
[log in to unmask] .

Note: **Health Information Forum meetings are now formally recognized by
the
Royal Colleges for accreditation for continued professional development
(credits are awarded on a meeting-by-meeting basis)**

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INASP Health Links is adapted for international use from the original
gateway provided by the University of Zambia School of Medicine Library
(UNZA). The UNZA gateway was developed by UNZA staff in conjunction with
Lenny Rhine, Librarian at the University of Florida Health Science Center
Libraries.

INASP Health Links is compiled by Lenny Rhine and Neil Pakenham-Walsh.
INASP
Health Links acknowledges the support and contributions of Exchange, INASP,
University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries, and University of
Zambia School of Medicine Library. INASP-Health activities are also
supported by the British Medical Journal, CDSI (International Council for
Science), and the World Health Organization.

PRINT COPIES
Print copies of INASP Health Links are available on request for 45 US
dollars (25 pounds sterling) [including postage and packing], and free of
charge to libraries in developing countries.

Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh
Programme Manager, INASP-Health
International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications
27 Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HU, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1865 248124
Fax: +44 (0)1865 251060
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