Anyone can now find answers to their health questions through a global online health network. This valuable tele-health model is now available for access to people from around the world.
The Canadian Cochrane Centre operates out of the University of Ottawa and has been contributing information to the Cochrane Library, an international collection of databases, since 1993.
The Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. It includes reliable evidence from Cochrane and other systematic reviews, clinical trials, and more. Cochrane reviews bring you the combined results of the world’s best medical research studies, and are recognised as the gold standard in evidence-based health care.
Up until now, the information in that library has only been made available to Canadians through the few libraries and educational institutions across Canada that have chosen to pay for subscriptions.
The Cochrane Library allows users search its databases when they're trying to make decisions about health care, whether they are patients, clinicians, researchers, policymakers or health-care professionals.
Now residents from a number of nations can access the Cochrane Library for free through a 'provision' or a special scheme. For more information on global access, please go to: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/mrwhome/106568753/AccessCochraneLibrary.html
For instance, all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean can access The Cochrane Library for free via the Virtual Health Library BIREME interface (in English, Spanish or Portuguese), thanks to funding by BIREME, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Indian residents can access the full contents of The Cochrane Library for free, thanks to sponsorship provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The Cochrane Library is available with free one-click access to all residents of countries in the World Banks list of low-income economies (countries with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of less that $1000). Access to The Cochrane Library for low-income countries is through IP recognition, a system which recognises the country a user is in.
Polish residents can access The Cochrane Library for free, thanks to funding for a national provision by Agencja Oceny Technologii Medycznych.
The information the databases offer comes from around the world in the form of medical reviews, technology assessments, economic evaluations and details about clinical trials.
The Ottawa centre's new agreement, launched recently, means that Canadians will now have free access to the library no matter where they are.
"If you were a nurse working in northern Ontario, you didn't have easy access to Cochrane," said Jeremy Grimshaw, the director of the Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre.
Making the information available to internet users is an important step, he said, but making sure people with health questions have access to the internet will also play a factor in the network's success.
"There is a digital divide, and there are some citizens who don't have easy access to the internet," he said. "Hopefully, over time, that will change, but I think the vast majority of Canadians through their home, their workplace, through the library system should be able to access Cochrane."
