United%20Nations%20Millennium%20Action%20Plan%20Health%20InterNetwork

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United Nations Millennium Action Plan Health
InterNetwork

• World Health Organization
• April 2001

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We the Peoples The Health InterNetwork
...As a concrete demonstration of how we can
build bridges over digital divides, I am pleased
to announce the Health InterNetwork. ...This
network will establish 10,000 on-line sites in
hospitals, clinics and public health facilities
throughout the developing world. It aims to
provide (tailored) access to relevant up-to-date
health and medical information... ...The
equipment and Internet access, wireless where
necessary, will be provided by a consortium in
co-operation with foundation and corporate
partners. ...Training and capacity-building is
an integral part of the project. The World Health
Organization is leading the United Nations in
developing this initiative with external
partners." Secretary-General of the
United Nations Kofi Annan 'We the
Peoples- The Role of the United Nations in the
21st Century Millennium Report of
the United Nations Secretary-General
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Health InterNetwork Goals

• Strengthen public health services, using Internet
  technologies
• Improve access to high quality, relevant and
  timely information
• Facilitate communication for public health
  practitioners, researchers and policy makers

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Health InterNetwork Concept

• The cornerstones of the project
• Content provided through an Internet- based web
  portal
• Connectivity at selected information access
  points in countries
• Training skills development for public health
  information access, management and use

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Health InterNetwork Community

• Initial participants
• health service providers
• researchers and scientists
• policy makers at all levels

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Guiding Principles

• Synergy
• concept based on existing successful projects
• content aggregation and authentication, not
  creation
• built from the roots, not top down
• Equity
• priced information
• communication cost

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Health InterNetwork Partners

• United Nations agencies
• Governments
• Non-governmental organizations
• Foundations
• Private sector
• Collaborating institutions, universities and
  health centers

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Health InterNetwork Phases
Phase I
Phase II
Phase III
Aim
Planning pilot
Implementation
Transition to broader scope
Dynamic public health network

• Three phases over 7 years
• 6-12 month planning and development
• 1-year pilot operation evaluation
• 5-year transition to broader scale
• Aim Dynamic public health information network at
  country and international level.

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Health InterNetwork Needs Assessment

• Basis for pilot project development
• User information and communication needs
• Public health content inventories
• Connectivity assessments (hardware, telecom,
  logistics)
• Analyses of public health information
  environments

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HIN Content Categories
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Planning and Pilot Phase

• Pilot phase will develop, over 1 year
• Health InterNetwork concept
• partnership structure and roles
• framework for site selection
• site assessment, plans and objectives
• content consortia and contributions for portal
• portal concept, construction and testing.

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Health InterNetwork Pilot Selection

• Initial selection criteria
• Established public health project or program
• Possible to establish pilot in 6 months
• Potential to measure outcomes
• Addresses broad user spectrum (across the pilots)
• Expressed interest and commitment in country
• Relevant to WHO public health priority area
• Potential for contribution to global public
  health community through HIN

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Research Network Pilot I

• Goal
• Test whether online delivery of high quality
  information and international connectivity
  answers the information and communication needs
  of developing country researchers
• Partners
• WHO Collaborating Centres in three geographic
  regions
• Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation)
• International content producers and aggregators

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Research Network Pilot 2

• Pilot deliverables
• Feedback on the suitability of the model
  (content, ICT components, training)
• Project plan developed with partners for
  large-scale roll-out
• Development of models for including, supporting,
  promoting locally-produced information
• Options for sustainability of large-scale project

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Why Researchers?

• One of key HIN target groups research is
  fundamental to improving public health
• Relatively international character of health and
  medical research potential ease of scale-up
• RPC programme priority defined by developing
  country scientists
• WHO priority area building skills and capacity

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Research Pilot Site Selection

• WHO Collaborating Centres
• Clear identification of sites with WHO is
  important to partners (private sector,
  foundations)
• Multi-country sites will help highlight context
  specific differences
• Priority areas for WHO (Africa) and OSI/Soros
  Foundation (Eastern Europe, Central Asia)
• Chosen from candidates proposed by WHO research
  programmes (primarily TDR, HRP)

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Examples of Content Areas
Government reports policies
Data statistics
News
Library reference
Electronic meeting communication
Research laboratory reports
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Health InterNetwork