When Spider Webs Unite, They Can Tie Up a Lion: NLM's Work in Information Technology and Health in Africa, 1997-20111.

In 1997, Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D., Director, U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) agreed to address the request of African malaria researchers for access to the Internet and medical journals as part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health's (NIH) contribution to the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM). This challenge matched my interests and previous experience in Africa. I joined NLM in 1997 to help establish the MIM Communications Network (MIMCom) in partnership with several NIH components and more than 30 other partners in Africa, the U.S., the United Kingdom (U.K.), and Europe. After a successful launch of MIMCom, NLM worked with African partners to create a series of innovative programs to build capacity in Africa and enhance global access to indigenous African research.

From Access to Collaboration: Four African Pathologists Profile Their Use of the Internet and Social Media.

The shared practice of pathology via the Internet holds great potential for pathologists in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and their global partners. Application of the Internet is constrained by issues of bandwidth, cost, and power. The penetration of mobile telephony and the arrival of smartphones have changed the use of Internet and social media in Africa and therefore the work of the 4 African pathologists featured in this article. As pathology in SSA struggles for visibility and usefulness, the Internet and its electronic applications provide a critical infrastructure as well as a podium for pathologists across the continent.

Tackling malaria, village by village: a report on a concerted information intervention by medical students and the community in Mifumi, Eastern Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Can an information intervention facilitated by information technology and carried out by an interdisciplinary team comprising medical students, technical experts, and the community itself make a positive contribution in reducing the burden of malaria at the village level? In Mifumi village in Eastern Uganda, MIFUMI Project, Makerere University College of Health Sciences Community Based Education and Service program (COBES), and the U.S. National Library of Medicine carried out a series of activities between 2007 and 2010. METHODS: The team surveyed the community's knowledge of malaria prevention and treatment; implemented a health information intervention using tutorials in a variety of media; and observed the community's use of previously distributed insecticide treated nets (ITNs) using a digital pen application. RESULTS: As a result of concerted education and outreach, the village residents have a good understanding of malaria prevention and treatment seeking behaviors. Leveraging the power of information technology and interdisciplinary teamwork, medical students and the denizens of a rural community were able to engage in an interactive experience of health education and promotion. CONCLUSION: Preliminary observations suggest that a health information intervention in concert with a collaborative community effort of education and prevention can build capacity within a community to take control of its own health.

Strategies for positive outcomes: can information technology make a difference in health in Africa.

This chapter looks to the future through the prism of pilot projects well in progress at the time of this writing: use of a malaria electronic tutorial in Mifumi village, development of a mental health electronic tutorial in northern Uganda, and development of an electronic health management system at Tororo Hospital. Each demonstrates a strategy, rooted in African soil, whose ultimate objective is to improve health through IT and medical informatics. The projects connect users, health professionals, and decision-makers, bringing together interdisciplinary teams. These projects all seek to address the question: Can an information and communication technology (ICT) intervention make a difference in morbidity and mortality in African settings? The findings indicate that not only can these interventions be implemented but can be enhanced with community collaboration, making a positive outcome in terms of community adaptation more likely. Finally, this chapter proposes a health informatics center, a Menlo Park for innovation and entrepreneurship in East Africa in which new ICT inventions and interventions for better health can be created from around the region.

Crossing the digital divide: the contribution of information technology to the professional performance of malaria researchers in Africa.

BACKGROUND: The US National Library of Medicine supports the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) through the design, implementation, and operation of the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Communications Network (MIMCom.) MIMCom makes possible enhanced access to the Internet and to medical literature. OBJECTIVES: The main objectives of the present study were to examine the use of MIMCom supported information technology (IT) by scientists, students, and administrative personnel to facilitate communication, retrieve information, obtain documents, write proposals, and prepare papers for publication; and to determine the contribution of this intervention to their professional performance. METHODS: The authors analyzed the contribution of enhanced Internet connectivity and access to electronic information resources to the performance of malaria research staff and their institutes through a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 181 respondents at 14 health research centers in Africa. Separate reviews of bandwidth usage, requests for document delivery, and publications in peer reviewed journals support the data of the survey. RESULTS: The MIMCom network makes a positive contribution to the performance of malaria researchers and support staff at the sites reviewed by improving e-mail exchange, access to published literature, and research proposal development and submission. Implications of these findings are discussed. CONCLUSION: By providing full access to the Internet and the resources of the WorldWide Web, MIMCom has been shown to be invaluable to malaria researchers and their institutes in Africa. This access has increased visibility of scientists in their respective institutions and provided opportunities for stronger engagement with the international scientific community.

Tying up lions: multilateral initiative on malaria communications: the first chapter of a malaria research network in Africa.

"When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion" (Ethiopian folk adage). The Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Communications Network (MIMCom) facilitates a new way of doing research in Africa and African scientists' participation in the international scientific community. The MIMCom supports full access to the Internet and the resources of the WorldWide Web at 19 research sites in 11 African countries. Furthermore, the MIMCom project comprises two websites: one includes links to resources, databases, and publications as well as a document delivery service for full text journal articles, and the other is a research agenda specific website with a server for a research network desiring to share raw data. Other important components of MIMCom are training and evaluation components. The MIMCom was conceived in 1997 by African researchers and has been designed, implemented, and overseen by the U.S. National Library of Medicine in collaboration with partners in Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom. This project demonstrates clearly that it can make a positive difference in the functioning of remote research sites in Africa, in terms of site growth and productivity and in the professional lives of individual researchers. This report reviews the project's background, methods of operation with an emphasis on local needs and priorities, cost effectiveness, and local responsibility; results focusing on a technical network; documentation of the system and two-way exchange of information; the MIMCom website; a network approach to research; and financial sustainability. The report concludes with summaries of evaluations by an independent panel, the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria Secretariat, and the U.S. National Library of Medicine.