The main objectives of this training workshop were to:
- introduce participants to different information resources provided by Hinari Access to Research for Health in particular and Research4life programmes in general;
- train participants on access and better utilization of Hinari Access to Research for Health electronic resources;
- prepare participants to regularly conduct similar workshops in their respective institutions/countries.
The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Syed Jaffar Hussain, WHO Representative to Libya, and Mr Mohammad Ibrahim, the Director-General of the Health Information System at the Ministry of Health, Libya.
Research4Life is the collective name for the 4 programmes – Hinari, AGORA, OARE and ARDI – developed by a public–private partnership of WHO, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, United Nations Environmental Programme, World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell and Yale Universities, the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers and up to 185 international scientific publishers. The goal of Research4Life is to reduce the knowledge gap between high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries by providing affordable access to critical scientific research.
WHO with financial aid of the European Union have given online full-text access to 15 hospitals on Research4life programmes in general, and Hinari progarmme in particular covering 79 000 peer-reviewed international scientific journals, books, and databases. During his opening remarks Dr Jaffar Hussain said that access to the journals would empower Libyan researchers to produce evidence-based information which will lead to informed decisions by policy-makers.
The workshop is part of the European Union-funded project known as the Strengthening the health information system and medicine supply chain management “SHAMS” project. The WHO country office for Libya is the implementing agency. The project was launched in January 2017 and is planned to continue for 2 years.
