Members Working in Health Areas

• Ballantyne, Peter ballantyne at antenna.nl When I worked at INASP, we supported a very active health information exchange group - see http://www.dgroups.org/groups/hif-net/ that also touched on KM/KS sometimes. Since then, INASP and the Global Forum for Health Research launched another forum - www.dgroups.org/groups/hr4d-net. You might like to also check out http://www.afriafya.org/ in Kenya and the work of Healthlink Worldwide ( http://www.healthlink.org.uk/) and especially the work of the Exchange Programme ( http://www.healthcomms.org/) that is now incorporated back into Healthlink. Andrew Chetley and Rob Vincent would be good contacts. Dgroups itself has many health related groups - http://www.dgroups.org/groups/dsp_groups.cfm - UNAIDS (Bangkok) is a founding Dgroups partner and David Bridger (bridger.unescap AT un.org) might be able to give more insights.

• Bery, Renuka rbery at smtp.aed.org Yes, we talk about Km in the global health world...it's definitely a buzz word in the health community and still not very well understood by others outside the KM world, but the more we talk about it and share, the better understood it will be. I was the KM specialist on the USAID funded Hygiene Improvement Project (HIP) that Jaap mentioned in his email response and together we developed the KM strategy he referenced and just completed a 10-day e-conference on household water treatment and storage. Now I am in a less overt KM role managing a USAID-funded West Africa regional health project --Action for West Africa Region (AWARE) with a reproductive health, maternal-neonatal health, child survival, and infectious disease focus--but still hoping to direct energy and resources into enhancing KM within this project. Renuka Bery, Project Director, AWARE

Academy for Educational Development, 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC 20009 www.aed.org

• Compernolle, Lou compernollel at who.int - We were in touch a while ago on setting up nursing and midwifery cops. I am still working as the cop focal point for the world health organization. We have done a baseline study of communities/networks within the organization and the edge of organization groups and there's quite a lot out there (under different headings). Just let me know if you'd like to know more

• Duongsaa, Usa usaduongsaa at gmail.com We also talk a lot about Km in the global health world. I'm working with the AIDS Education Programme (AEP) of Chiangmai University, Thailand, and AEP as well as many colleagues and partners in different parts of Thailand have integrated KM in our work on HIV/AIDS and related issues. In fact one Thai organization, The Knowledge Management Institute (KMI), is focusing on promoting KM on health issues alongside other social and economic issues. You may visit KMI's web site at http://www.kmi.or.th I'm also working with the Constellation for AIDS Competence, a not-for-profit organization aiming at connecting local response around the world as well as promoting AIDS competence, health/life competence (including malaria competence and diabetes competence). KM is a key component of our approach. Please visit www.aidscompetence.org for more information on the Constellation.

• Ebener, Steeve ebeners at who.int I am also working at WHO as the Knowledge Mapping focal point. After a first exploratory year to find out how this could be useful in health, the activities and products planned for 2006-2007 includes: - development of a WHO Knowledge Mapping Working Group and a Knowledge Mapping Network, build capacity and technical expertise for supporting Knowledge mapping in countries and within WHO, Stimulate development of methods and testing of existing tools for the production of guidelines and protocols, Develop assessment tools for Kmapping. I would also be very happy to tell you more about it if you are interested.

• Mahoney, Corinne cmahoney at intrahealth.org - I work with KM in the global health community as a KM Specialist for The Capacity Project www.capacityproject.org, a global project funded by USAID dedicated to improving human resources for health (HRH). One of our recent KM activities was the launch of the HRH Global Resource Center www.hrhresourcecenter.org, a digital library focused on HRH. This is a service to the community of practitioners working in HRH, with a specific focus on country-level HR practitioners (e.g. those in Ministries of Health responsible for HR decision making or Human Resources Departments). We are hoping to evolve this site into a community forum that will eventually support knowledge sharing communities of practice related to HRH. I am also involved with internal KM activities for both the Capacity Project, and my organization­IntraHealth International (where we are currently working on developing a KM Strategy). I’d be happy to provide more information as well. Corinne Mahoney, Resource Center Manager

IntraHealth International, Inc.6340 Quadrangle Drive, Suite 200, Chapel Hill, NC 27517

• Pels, Jaap jaap.pels at gmail.com Have a look at WHO HWTS network: http://www.who.int/household_water/network/en/index.html Another one: HIP - AED - USAid http://www.hip.watsan.net and KM strategy http://www.hip.watsan.net/page/430 Further HealthLink http://www.healthlink.org.uk/

• Perkins, Nicholas perkins.n at healthlink.org.uk Just to follow-up on what Peter said. Healthlink Worldwide has been doing various bits of work around knowledge management and learning in the health sector - particularly in broadening the understanding of and applications of health communications. We have been managing a programme called Exchange (www.healthcomms.org) for the last 5 years which worked with around 80 organisations globally. We have also produced a number of learning publications and research & reflection papers in the 'Findings' series. There is also the Source database (www.asksource.info) which places particular emphasis on 'grey' materials and documentation from the South. More than the outputs, one of our challenges has been to get the processes right and effectively mainstream operational research into the support we give to partners. This is easier said than done and we have been experimenting with a mix of methodologies, tools and approaches from 'After Action Reviews' to 'Most Significant Change'. I would be very happy to discuss this more with anyone who's interested. Nick Ishmael Perkins, Head Communications, Networking & Learning, Healthlink Worldwide, 56-64 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4JX, U.K

• Posner, Larry lposner at mindspring.com I am part of the list-serve group. I work with CAMRIS International, Inc. in Rockville, Maryland. Lawrence Day is the appropriate contact person. Stephanie Posner is an epidemiologist working on HIV/AIDS in South Africa;lots of experience on health surveillance systems, particularly in Africa. Dr. Vincent Shaw is Stephanie's husband. He is an expert on Health Management Information Systems for developing countries; he is completing a PhD in Informatics in Norway at this moment.

• Pakenham-Walsh, Neil neil.pakenham-walsh AT ghi-net.org

I am coordinator of the Global Healthcare Information Network, a non-profit organization that supports the goal of ‘Healthcare Information For All by 2015’ (www.hifa2015.org). Our goal: By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider. People will no longer be dying simply for lack of basic healthcare knowledge. To join the HIFA2015 email forum, please send an email to hifa2015-admin at dgroups.org - please include your name, organisation and brief description of professional interests. By way of introduction, here's a bit of background about myself: I have a special interest in (1) the availability and use of relevant, reliable healthcare information in developing countries, especially at primary and district levels, and (2) collaborative technologies. I qualified as a doctor in 1983 and worked for 6 years in NHS hospital medicine, including 2 years in paediatrics. In 1990 I moved into medical publishing and worked with the World Health Organization, Medicine Digest, and the Wellcome Trust CD-ROM series 'Topics in International Health'. From 1996 to 2004 I developed and managed the INASP-Health programme (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications) and the eForum, HIF-net (Health Information Forum). I have worked as a medical officer in rural Ecuador and Peru, and in 2005 I worked alongside rural healthcare providers in South India to assess local priorities in access and use of health information. I'm looking forward to learn more about wikis and how these can be used as a tool to harness experience and expertise across large multidisciplinary groups with varying levels of connectivity and IT know-how.