Providing Free Or Very Low Cost Online Access To Biomedical And Health Information To Institutions In Developing Countries

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Also Included In: Aid / Disasters;  Diabetes
Article Date: 13 May 2008 - 3:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

The American Diabetes Association (ADA), a world leader in diabetes research, information, and advocacy and Conference Archives, Inc. (CAI) is pleased to announce that the World Health Organization's (WHO) HINARI Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) is now delivering the ADA's event knowledge to participating institutions via Ekatius™, CAI's new online platform for meeting and conference abstracts, posters, and rich media presentations.

In partnership with commercial and not-for-profit publishers, HINARI provides free or very low cost online access to biomedical and health information to institutions in developing countries. The ADA's professional education activities and courses represent a new, rich media content addition to the collection of journals now available to health institutions in more than 100 countries through HINARI.

"The American Diabetes Association is fortunate to host scientific and professional education activities that draw a wide audience of health care providers and scientists from around the world as both presenters and attendees," said John B. Buse, MD, PhD, President, Medicine & Science, American Diabetes Association. "We hope that by providing greater access to the information shared at these meetings through HINARI, the American Diabetes Association can improve diabetes care in areas of the world that are both overburdened with diabetes and underserved with access to cutting-edge healthcare information."

The delivery of ADA professional education event knowledge through HINARI will provide clinicians, researchers, and students in developing countries with the latest treatment advancements and research focused on diabetes. The WHO predicts that 80% of all new cases of diabetes are expected to appear in developing countries by 2025.

David Sampson, CAI's EVP, Medical Content Division said: "We applaud the ADA for continuing to support its mission to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. Delivering ADA meeting and conference content through HINARI will hopefully prevent diabetes and alleviate suffering from the disease in the developing world. "

The ADA event knowledge in Ekatius™ to be delivered through HINARI will include abstracts, posters, and rich media presentations captured from the ADA's recent and forthcoming Annual Scientific Sessions, held annually in June, as well as ADA's Clinical and Research Symposia and ADA's Annual Advanced Postgraduate Courses. The Ekatius™ platform delivers advanced search functionalities that allow users to search for event knowledge - abstracts, posters, and presentations from a meeting - either within a specific event or across several events.

About the American Diabetes Association

The American Diabetes Association is the nation's leading 501(C)3 nonprofit health organization providing diabetes research, information and advocacy. Founded in 1940, the American Diabetes Association conducts programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, reaching hundreds of communities. The Association's commitment to research is reflected through its scientific meetings, education and provider recognition programs; and its Research Foundation and Nationwide Research Program, which fund breakthrough studies looking into the cure, prevention, and treatment of diabetes and its complications. For more information, please visit http://www.diabetes.org or call 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383).

About HINARI

The HINARI program, set up by WHO together with major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to one of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature. Over 5000 journal titles are now available to health institutions in 108 countries, benefiting many thousands of health workers and researchers, and in turn, contributing to improved world health.http://www.who.int/hinari

About Conference Archives, Inc.

Conference Archives, Inc. (CAI) has provided innovative solutions for capturing event knowledge and distributing the results through various media since 2001. CAI has since become widely known for its contributions to the meetings industry through its ConferenceOnDemand™ and ConferenceCompanion® archiving products of annual conferences primarily in the association industry. CAI's archiving services and rich media products enhance an end-user's knowledge base by delivering the conference experience via the Internet or fixed media, thus creating a timely, post-conference environment conveniently view conference content. http://www.conferencearchives.com

About Ekatius™

The Ekatius™ platform is an educational resource that aggregates and disseminates rich media, hard-to-find, event knowledge elements such as abstracts, posters, and rich media presentations. The Ekatius™ platform represents new event knowledge solutions for associations, institutions, and industry.

http://www.ekatius.com