Health information for the developing world

Abstract

Doctors and other health professionals in developing countries are missing out on relevant information about health. A lot of the information they need is available in the developed countries, and those who have it are happy to share it with them. But transporting information, like food or medicines, from one part of the world to another is not an easy task nor is it the complete answer to the information drought. It is one thing to ferry books and journals from Europe to Africa and another to make relevant information available to the right person at the right time at an affordable cost.

PIP: Gross inequalities exist in the availability of health information in the developing and developed worlds. While doctors in developed countries receive more information than they can possibly absorb and use, doctors and other health professionals in most developing countries suffer from an extreme shortage of relevant information. This paucity of relevant information is a chronic problem of health care in developing countries and in the formerly communist countries of eastern Europe. A conference was held in 1994 at the BMA House, London, to bring together people who know what material is wanted in developing countries, publishers who might make health material available as cheaply as possible, and people who know about distributing it to the developing world. A network of concerned individuals is now being established among some of the 67 conference participants who included representatives of international organizations, government and nongovernment bodies, as well as publishers, journalists, doctors, and others. The conference also helped highlight the need for certain health-related information to be generated in and by developing countries and that the information exchange should be from developed countries to developing countries, vice versa, and among developing countries. The author explains information needs, present action, the role of international organizations, what librarians can do, problems faced by commercial publishers, how the distribution of information can be improved, the role of electronic publishing and distribution, and how publishers in developing countries can be helped.