WHO links with consumers on reproductive health information

The World Health Organization (WHO) is to work more closely with consumers in developing countries on the provision of reproductive health information, with the recent inclusion of the Cochrane Collaboration Consumer Network in the development of the WHO Reproductive Health Library.

The WHO Reproductive Health Library is an electronic review journal that provides information designed to inform decision making on reproductive health issues in developing countries. The library is produced on an annual basis on computer disk and CD Rom, currently in English and Spanish but soon also available in Chinese and other languages. It is available free to people in developing countries. Each edition supersedes the previous one, so the information is as up to date as possible.

Hilda Bastian, convener of the Cochrane Collaboration Consumer Network and based in Australia, is leading the move to closer collaboration with consumers in the development of the library. She explained: “The aim is for the information to be more accessible to ordinary people. Secondly, we hope that it will address the issues that are considered most important to these people.”

In June, members of the Cochrane Collaboration Consumer Network discussed with some of the editors of the library how to make the publication more consumer friendly. The consumer members were Hilda Bastian as network convener and women from Nigeria (representing Africa), Mexico (representing Latin America), and India (representing Asia).

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