The Cochrane Collaboration and South African Cochrane Centre (SACC)

Godwin N. Aja, MCH, CHESDepartment of Health Sciences

Babcock UniversityIlishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria

A Workshop Presentation at the African Cochrane Contributors Meeting organized by the South African Cochrane Centre, May 22-29, 2007 at the South

African Medical and Research Council Conference Centre, Cape Town, Republic of South Africa

The Cochrane Collaboration An international organization Aims to help people make well-informed decisions about health care by:

Preparing, maintaining, and promoting the accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions.

Synthesizing healthcare evidence (since 1993)

“It is surely a great criticism of our profession that we have not organized a critical summary, by specialty or subspecialty, adapted periodically, of all relevant randomized controlled trials”.

Archie Cochrane, 1979

Brief History1972 Publication 'Effectiveness and Efficiency: random

reflections on health services'

Oct 1992 'The Cochrane Centre' opens in Oxford, UK. Pregnancy and Childbirth Group registered

Aug 1993 Formal launch of The Cochrane Collaboration at the 1st Cochrane Colloquium, in Oxford, UK

May 1994 Release of version 1 of RevMan

Apr 1996 The Cochrane Library launched by Update Software

Feb 2000 Inaugural meeting of the Campbell Collaboration

Apr 2002The Cochrane Library was made free at the point of use for access under the HINARI scheme for developing countries

Cochrane Logo Seven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) Comparing short, inexpensive course of a

corticosteroid with a placebo. Each horizontal line represents the results of one

trial (the shorter the line, the more certain the result);

Diamond represents their combined results Vertical line indicates trials had similar effects Diamond to the left of the vertical line indicates

treatment studied is beneficial. The first of these RCTs was reported in 1972.

The principles Collaboration Building on enthusiasm of individuals Avoiding duplication Minimizing bias Keeping up to date Ensuring relevance Ensuring access Continuous quality improvement Continuity Enabling wide participation

Cochrane CollaborationStructure

Collaborative Review Groups

Fields

The Consumer Network

Centres

Steering Group Methods

Groups

Cochrane Centres

South African

Australasian

Chinese

Brazilian

Nordic

German

Italian

Iberoamerican

Dutch

UK

Canadian

US

CRG structure

Editorial OfficeCo-ordinating Editor

Review Group Co-ordinatorTrials Search Co-ordinator

Editors

Statisticians

Internal/External referees

Consumer referees

Contact/feedback editors

Review authors

Handsearchers

Web site

South African Cochrane Centre (SACC)

Part of the international Cochrane Collaboration The only Cochrane Centre in Africa and serves as

the reference Centre for individuals in the following African countries:Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia,

Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe

Website: http://www.mrc.ac.za/cochrane/cochrane.htm

SACC Mission To prepare and maintain systematic reviews of the effects of health care

interventions. To promote access to and the use of evidence from systematic reviews in healthcare decision making throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

SACC Current Projects

African Trials Register Evidence in Action Board Game Evidence-based Practice Training workshops HIV/AIDS Mentoring Programme Reviews for Africa Programme (RAP) Supporting Translation of Evidence into Policy and Practice

(STEPP) Systematic Review Group Problem-busting Sessions Cochrane systematic review protocol development and

RevMan workshop