Lenny Rhine, PhDLibrarians Without BordersR /Medical Library Association

04 September 2009

BackgroundOverviewTraining AspectsConclusions

‘Information poverty is that situation in which individuals and communities … do not have requisite skills, abilities or material means to obtain efficient access to information, interpret it and apply it appropriately … (it’s) a lack of essential information and a poorly developed information infrastructure.’

Britz JJ. To know or not to know: a moral reflection on information poverty. Journal of Information Sciences. 2004: 30(3):194

‘The shelves in our libraries are full of outdated books, most of them 15 to 30 years old.’ Patrikios, 1994 - see Kale R.

‘Management of medical schools and hospitals are in disarray where the local research cultures are extremely fragile, if they exist at all.’Kale R. Health information for the developing world. BMJ 1994 Oct 8;309(6959):939.

Negative impact on:

clinical practice/evidence-based medicineeducation/information seeking skillsresearch environment

Equitable and universal access to health information is:

an important component of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals for Healtha key factor in reducing global disparities in healthwould benefit multiple groups of stakeholders: clinicians, researchers, students, policy makers, patients and consumers

Information Technology is a tool to bridge the ‘north/south’ health information gap

Internet is a means of acquiring and sharing information and multilateral communication

IT has been shown to improve access to health information and the health of populations in developing countries

Odutola, A.B. Developing countries must invest in access to information for health improvements. JMIR 2003, 5(1), e5

‘Information Technology Revolution’ parallels the ‘Green Revolution’ - need a package of resources for success:

seed fertilizerwater marketroads

A successful ‘Information Technology Revolution’ package:

reliable supply of electricityhardware and telecommunications infrastructure (256 bps bandwidth - minimal)free or legally accessible and relevant information ranging from clinical resources to research outputs and policy papers (e.g. HINARI)training, training, training

‘HINARI - Access to Research’ Initiative is coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaboration between the WHO, publishers and other health care content ownersTo provide biomedical and health care research and guideline information to non-profit academic and research institutions, governmental and policy making departments in low-income countriesAGORA (agricultural research) and OARE (environmental research) are similar programs

HINARI Access to Research Initiative: 6400 journals, 108 countries http://www.who.int/hinari/

AGORA: Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture: 1278 journals and 108 participating countries http://www.aginternetwork.org/

OARE: Online Access to Research in the Environment: 2990 journals; 108 countries http://www.oaresciences.org/

Institutions in countries with GNP per capita below $1250 are eligible for free access (Band 1)Institutions in countries with GNP per capita between $1250-$3500 pay a fee of $1000 per year / institution (Band 2) For details, see

http://www.who.int/hinari/eligibility/en/

108 countries/2909 Band 1 and 1164 Band 2 institutions

Nigeria: 230Vietnam: 221Bangladesh: 207Ukraine: 148Peru:145Nepal: 140Colombia:136

‘Information isolation is a thing of the past. The past months have brought great changes to our College with the combined opportunity of HINARI access, and the other vital ingredient–fast Internet through satellite access. The two are revolutionizing access to information.’

Margaret Ngwira of Kamuzu Nursing College, University of Malawi

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PAGEVIEWS BY HINARI USERSAugust 2007 ‐May 2009

200824 workshops conducted primarily in sub-Saharan Africa with several in the WPRO, SEARO, EMRO and PAHO regions50% were research4life workshops (multiple programs) 50% were geared toward one specific program –HINARI or AGORA or OARE

2009 (January – June)16 workshops have been conducted Similar range of locations and split between one program and multiple programs workshopsIncluded 2 workshops for individuals whose institutions have linkages with HINARI eligible organizations

March - June 2008: Email CourseSept. - Dec. 2008: POLHN/Moodle Course version 1.1April - July 2009: POLHN version 1.2Currently developing a Moodle ‘Short Course’ in English and Spanish versions

ITOCA/Cornell University-Mann Library: Gracian Chimwaza, Vimbai Hungwe, Dele T. Fawole Ibadan University, Nigeria), Pamela A. Marinda, (Masendo Muliro University, Kenya)Librarians Without Border/MLA: Lenny Rhine WHO/Gaby Caro WHO/AFRO: Pascal MouhoueloWHO/WPRO: Julius DizonFAO/RAF: Justin Chisenga, Information Specialist, GhanaUNEP: Mohamed Atani, OARE Technical Officer, NairobiChristie Hospital/UK: Steve Glover

Assisted by local information managers and faculty

Internet Basics, Searching, Health Resources on the InternetHINARI Overview, Partner Publishers’ WebsitesHINARI/PubMed – Website, Limits, MeSH, MY NCBIAdvocacy skills for HINARI: Marketing, Repackaging, Workshop OrganizationAuthorship Skills: Web-Bibliography, How to Write a Scientific Paper, FAQs, Intellectual PropertyShort Course: 3-4 hours course for users/limited training timeTraining tools: FAQs, Do’s and Don’ts, HINARI – The Basics, Access/Copying/Printing Problems and Solutions

Evaluation of workshopsLong-term impactCarnegie Foundation and Synergy Grants2010 Comprehensive Survey

Trainers Workshops: 987 participants, 31 workshops, 20 countries, 3-4 day workshopsOpen Seminars/Short Courses: + 600 professionalsImpact: + 8,200 trained downstream

Faculty/Researchers - 28%Librarians/Info Specialists - 65%Policy Makers - 7%

'Greetings from the smiling coast of Africa.... Attending your HINARI and authorship course was a great experience and the effect it have on my academic life is immense. I used to struggle digging out relevant and recent articles but not any more and you know what I just cannot stopping searching. You empowered me and my colleagues and in doing so you gave me a new hobby and thank you very much.

Please tell HINARI the only way this very important tool can be use to maximum is training people… Before this training, I found it very difficult to find my way. Thank your once again for empowering me and my colleagues.'

Ahmed Manjang/Medical Research Council/The Gambia, Nov. 2008

‘I knew very little about HINARI. All I knew was that the underdeveloped countries with a GNP of less than $ 1000 were given free access to medical journals in the net, courtesy WHO...

I also had felt the strong lack of medical journals and books in our set-up but following this training I feel there is no dearth of it even in our set-up.

With a number of computers, uninterrupted electricity supply and reasonable wide broadband, we can search for any medical topic under the sun and the depth of our search can be fathomless.’

Joshi, Ashok. Email 01 September 2007 (anesthesiologist and journal editor - Nepal)

Electricity, hardware and bandwidthLanguage limitationsAuthentication problemsUser name/password distributionTraining – skills/advocacy Culture change

Initial cable to West Africa in 2002; SAT 3 owned by Telecom2nd launched in East Africa – July 23, 2009; built by Seacom, a 75% African owned consortium; is 10 x faster than existing satellite service4 more cables will be completed in East Africa by the end of 2010GLO-1 will link Europe with Nigeria and Ghana also expected in 2010A note for optimism!

If your institution has linkages with HINARI eligible organizations, become a trainer to:

Train visitors/graduate students from HINARI eligible institutionsConduct a training course at a

HINARI eligible institutionBecome a facilitator for a HINARI

distance learning course

Thanks for listening to the presentation!rhinel@ufl.edu