Essential Health
Links consists of three sections. Each section has
several pages of hyperlinks, arranged alphabetically. Each
hyperlink carries a brief description of the site concerned.
The three sections are:
The Essential Heath
Links sites are selected and evaluated according to
criteria adapted from the evaluation questions developed by
the Special Advisory Group on Evaluation for BIOME/OMNI
(currently INTUTE), a gateway to Internet resources in the
health and life sciences.
Selection Criteria: The first essential
criterion is that the site contains information that is
relevant for developing and emerging countries. In addition,
selected sites must fulfill at least five of the following
six criteria:
Evaluation Criteria: The following
criteria are reviewed and summarised, where necessary, in the
descriptive section of each link:
Users should note that the compilers do not have
sufficient resources to evaluate the scientific accuracy of
each website that is included in Essential Health Links. The
emphasis is on selecting websites that contain relevant
health information for developing and emerging countries.
While a set of criteria are employed, the evaluation of each
specific website is not exhaustive and there is no guarantee
of a high level of accuracy for all the information in the
links. The addresses of the links are checked for accuracy
approximately every ten weeks and the date of the last update
for each page is shown at the foot of that page.
The descriptions on Essential Health Links are
written and compiled by Lenny Rhine and edited by Neil
Pakenham-Walsh, Global Healthcare Information Network (see
biographies below). The
development and maintenance of Essential Health Links is
facilitated and monitored by a voluntary Advisory Group
coordinated by Christine Kanyengo, medical librarian at the
University of Zambia.
The Members of the Advisory Group advise on ways to
improve the usefulness, reliability and relevancy of the
resource.
Some of the individual pages of Essential Health Links are
advised by Subject Expert Advisers who provide guidance on
the content of specific topics.
The Advisory Group works on a voluntary basis. The Members
are currently all from Africa, but we would be keen to
welcome new Members from Asia, Latin America and the Newly
Independent States. We also welcome applications from people
who would like to be Subject Expert Advisers. For further
details, or to discuss the possibility of joining the group,
please contact Christine Wamu Kanyengo (Members) or Lenny Rhine
(Subject Expert Advisers).
"Essential Health Links allows health information
specialists to continue and expand work at national and
international level. I no longer need to spend time and
resources on search engines." - Ibrahima Bob (Former
President, Association for Health Information and Libraries
in Africa).
Essential Health
Links is adapted for international use from the
original gateway provided by the University of Zambia School
of Medicine Library (UNZA). In 1997, the UNZA gateway was
developed by UNZA staff in conjunction with Lenny Rhine,
University Librarian Emeritus, the University of Florida.
The current version initially was developed with the
assistance of the International Network for the Availability
of Scientific Publications (INASP) and was located on this
organization's platform from January 2002 to August 2007. We
are grateful for INASP's support during this five year
period.
As of August 2007, AED/SatelLife became the principal
sponsor of the project and the gateway moved to its current
location. It is one of the components of the
AED/Satellife Global Health Information Network. We are
pleased with this new relationship that will benefit the
project and the users throughout the world.
AED/SatelLife is a nonprofit organization working globally to
improve education, health, civil society and economic
development. Currently, the principal contributors are
not compensated for their activities and the technical costs
of the gateway are supplied by AED/Satellife.
Essential Health
Links is offered freely for use as a template by
others (e.g. medical school libraries, ministries of health,
publishers, libraries, NGOs) to develop customised gateways
on their own websites. This approach should reduce the risk
of duplication of effort while maximising the usefulness of
the gateway for specific target groups.
Help us to improve Essential Health Links. Please
e-mail your comments and suggestions to eh-links@healthnet.org
Lenny Rhine, PhD; is Emeritus University
Librarian at the University of Florida. Since 1992, Lenny has
worked with health libraries in developing countries and
conducted numerous presentations and training workshops
particularly in conjunction with the Association for Health
Information and Libraries in Africa and HINARI. He has been
the compiler of the Essential Health Links since its
inception in January 2002. Currently, Lenny is the
coordinator of the Elsevier-funded "E-Library Training Grant"
for the Librarians Without Borders, Medical Library
Association, USA. This grant primarily facilitates
training for the HINARI project.
Obianuju Mollel, MLIS; has lived and worked in North America and
Africa for over 30 years. She is a passionate advocate for equity
of access to health information and for health sciences
librarianship. In 2002, at the request of the Health InterNetwork
Access to Information Initiative (HINARI), Obianuju developed the
initial Train-the-Trainer workshop curriculum and training
materials and led the first HINARI workshop in Dar-es-Salaam,
Tanzania. She currently teaches Health Science Librarianship at
the School of Library and Information Studies, University of
Alberta. Obianuju is also the Alberta Health Services Lead for
Library Services in the province of Alberta, Canada.
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