To provide a platform for influencing health policy and practice through research and effective communication.
Main beneficiary country:Uganda
US National Library of Medicine (NLM)
The US National Library of Medicine, in partnership with African Health Sciences, and assisted by the Association of Health Care Journalists, Partnerships in Health Information (Phi) and the Alfred Friendly Press Partners, in the context of the African Journal Partnership Program (AJPP) are sponsoring the program. At the core of the project are the journals in the African Journal Partnership Program (AJPP). The US National Library of Medicine (NLM) is working with ten African medical journals in ten countries: DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. The programme involves partnerships between US/UK and African journals.
Sector: Academic entities: Universities, research laboratories, etc.
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Healthcare themes targeted
Stage of development:
Area where initiative is utilised
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Economic model(s)
Where do people go to get accurate health information when an emergency strikes? Where do they get the best routine health advice on a day-to-day basis? Countries typically have very scattered health information resources. Researchers, policymakers, and such intermediaries as print and broadcast journalists, medical librarians and publishers often work in silos and rarely communicate with each other effectively.
By providing a national platform to all stakeholders, the typical fragmentation is removed from the work of health information sharing. Instead of a variety of often-conflicting sources, false information, disguised marketing, etc., this programme unites knowledge producers, intermediaries and users, and adds value to existing work in this area.
The Building Bridges Programme: A Quantum Leap in National Health Communications
The network’s objectives:
At the core of the project are the journals in the African Journal Partnership Program (AJPP). The NLM is working with ten African medical journals in ten countries: DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. The programme involves partnerships between US/UK and African journals. The US/UK journals include: Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, Environmental Health Perspectives, JAMA, The Lancet, and NEJM. Established African journals become mentors to new journals in South-South relationships.NLM now seeks to extend the reach of each of these journals to a broader constituency that includes the lay public, newspaper and broadcast journalists, and policymakers.
We have been piloting the Ugandan National Health Communications Network, and will expand to Ethiopia and other countries before the end of 2021.
Health professional training - Information, education and communication for behaviour change (IEC)
0 Number of beneficiaries since launch
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Academic entities: Universities, research laboratories, etc.
Organizational: Communities, public authorities, NGOs, associations, foundations, etc.
Academic entities: Universities, research laboratories, etc.
Organizational: Communities, public authorities, NGOs, associations, foundations, etc.
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