Health Information Updates to and from Africa

World Book Day 2012

nigepalphi — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:03:59 +0000

It’s World Book Day on March 1st 2012. An opportunity for raising funds in your library to help Book Aid International provide books for school libraries in sub Saharan Africa.

Check out suggested activities as well as educational resources at the Book Aid International website.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: African Libraries, Book Aid International

Strategic reviews- time for a strategic review ?

nigepalphi — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:05:20 +0000

The Cochrane Collaboration which produces and distributes high quality systematic reviews to support evidence informed decision making in clinical care and health policy is carrying out a review of its own success and effectiveness.

Advances in technology, increased user expectations and evolving publishing models all influence how published research and knowledge are produced, displayed and accessed.

As an essential part of Cochrane’s review of Cochrane, to be delivered at the mid year meeting in Paris in April 2012, it is calling for you to complete a survey and give your views on how it should respond to changing customer needs and expectations.

See the scope of this review and the survey on their website.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: Cochrane Library

Multilingual Unified Medical Dictionary

nigepalphi — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:33:22 +0000

The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in Cairo has been working on the Unified Medical Dictionary over the last 30 years. The latest version of it was published a few months ago.

The dictionary is multilingual Arabic, English, French and Spanish. Chinese is coming !

It is available in several formats, including CD-ROM, printed book and e-book. For details please contact Dr Kassem Sara at Sarak@emro.who.int

There is also an online version on the web.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: Dictionaries

Library mailing from HIPNet

nigepalphi — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:04:04 +0000

HIPNet ( Health Information and Publications Network ) which is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development ( USAID ) facilitates collaboration among organisations that produce and disseminate print and electronic information in the field of international health.

Annually it conducts a library mailing that distributes print materials and CD-ROMs from USAID- funded collaborating agencies to libraries in developing countries. HIPNet is now seeking interested libraries ( N.B. libraries only, not individuals ) that wish to receive materials in reproductive health and family planning in English, French or Spanish. These materials are state of the art, evidence- based findings in reproductive health and family planning, covering various topics.

Please contact Heather Johnson at hjohnson@jhuccp.org if you represent a library and are interested in joining the library mailing list to add to your collection.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: African Libraries, community health information, developing countries, E-Resources

To all our readers !

nigepalphi — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:50:27 +0000

Please don’t be intimidated by what may sometimes seem the rather formal and academic nature of this blog. Jean and I are both retired librarians and get our material from the announcements in websites which are by their very nature dry and factual. Wouldn’t you like to contribute some of your day to day experience of working in medical and health libraries, the problems and difficulties you face and your opinions on what works and what doesn’t work in the provision of health information ?

Just jot a few lines and send them in an e-mail to me -Nigel Palmer nigepal@hotmail.com ( February and April ) or to Jean Shaw jgreigshaw@gmail.com ( March ) and we’ll do the rest. If we think anything needs changing we’ll clear it with you first.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: African Libraries

LIASA Annual Conference

nigepalphi — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:37:32 +0000

The Library and Information Association of South Africa ( LIASA ) will be hosting its 14th annual conference at the Durban International Conference Centre 1st-5th October 2012.

The International Conference Centre is one of the most advanced facilities in the world.

For more details and for news of South African library week go to LIASA website.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: African Libraries, South Africa

THET gets a new chief executive

nigepalphi — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:47:37 +0000

THET ( Tropical Health and Education Trust ) has a new chief executive, replacing Pia MacRae. She is Jane Cockerell who joined THET in January 2010 as Director of Programmes. Jane has a decade of experience in public health programmes and has worked in countries including Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan and Sierra Leone. She has worked for a range of organisations, including GOAL, Merlin, International Rescue Committee and was executive director of African Revival before joining THET.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: THET

Phi makes a difference ( and so does HINARI )

nigepalphi — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:35:10 +0000

In a new book : Making a difference- stories from the field : how access to scientific literature is improving the livelihoods of communities around the world, ed. Richard Gedye and Charlotte Masiello- Riome, Mulugeta Bayisa who practises and teaches physiotherapy at the University of Gondar, Ethiopia, tells in chapter one how he was introduced to HINARI ( Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative ) through a teaching programme organised by the Leicester- Gondar medical and university link and how it changed his life.

When Phi discovered that Leicester’s Professor Mike Silverman wanted two health information experts from the University to deliver the Evidence Based Practice module in their training programme to Ethiopian postgraduate students , it alerted him to the existence of highly trained and experienced Ethiopian HINARI trainers. In the event that only one trainer from Leicester was available Phi coordinated the submission of a successful bid to the BMA humanitarian fund. This funded another experienced UK trainer plus the Head of the Department of Information Studies at Jimma University to support the training led by Leicester’s trainer.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: Ethiopia, Evidence based health care, HINARI, training

Cunningham Memorial International Grants

nigepalphi — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:34:06 +0000

Instead of the traditional Cunningham Memorial International Fellowship, for 2013 only, grants of up to $2,000 are being awarded for medical librarians outside the United States and Canada to attend the combined MLA ‘ 13 11th International Congress on Medical Librarianship ( ICML ), 7th International Conference of Animal Health Information Specialists ( ICAHIS ), and 6th International Clinical Librarians Conference ( ICLC ) May 2013 meeting in Boston, MA. These grants are supported in part by the 11th ICML. A grant application form is available by accessing the MLA grants website and following the appropriate links.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: International conferences

IFLA association affiliate membership

nigepalphi — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:05:27 +0000

IFLA- the International Federation of Library Associations – is offering a new membership category for emerging library associations at EUR 58 per year ( around US $ 74 ). This includes free membership registration with the Management of Library Associations section and the Regional Activities section ( Africa ).

See website link for details.

Nigel Palmer, Phi

Tagged: African Libraries, IFLA, Library associations