The INFO Project Blog

Paul Mundy and Evelyn Mathias have created an excellent resource on their website, Dev Comm, about collaborative workshops for developing communcation materials called writeshops. According to Mundy and Mathias, writeshops can can reduce the time needed to produce information and increase the value of the content at the same time. It’s a process for taking a draft and in an intensive editing and critique process - which can take from a few days up to a few weeks - come up with a final version. Sounds good to me!

To read more about how it works, visit the writeshop process page or read a short article about it. Mundy has also created a list of materials that have been produced as a result of writeshops, including some on family planning.

If you are interested in developing materials that document your work, you should also take a look at this excellent resource from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance - Documenting and communicating HIV/AIDS work (courtesy of One Source).

STD Prevention Online is new interactive web site that aims to enhance communication between people who work in STD/HIV prevention  research, policy, and programs. Its ultimate goal to encourage the  implementation of state-of-the art interventions in STD/HIV  prevention practice and help stop the transmission of sexually  transmitted infections, including HIV.  It is funded by CDC and managed by the Denver Department of Public Health.  You can skim the site but to really see all that is available, you should create an account.  You can upload a photo and CV, have your own blog and customize your home page. It has a calendar of events, online discussion forums and job listings. 

For additional information on HIV/AIDS and other STDs, please check out what’s been added to INFO’s One Source database on these topics in the last 3o days.

Now is your chance to vote for medical author of the year if you are an Amedeo subscriber!  Nominations so far are mostly for authors writing on infectious disease (46 nominations.) There are only 8 nominations in public health. OB/GYN only has two nominations and reproductive health has a single one.  So think about your favorite article related to family planning and reproductive health and vote!

The winner will be selected by tallying the votes of Amedeo subscribers who can vote online through January 31, 2008. To nominate your favorite article, visit the Amedeo Prize website.  The winner won’t  be announced until July 4, 2008.

• View a video on YouTube (explains why the prize is being awarded)
• See who’s been nominated so far
• Read the rules

Posted by Peggy

The TRIP Database, from the UK, is one of the web’s leading resources for Evidence-Based Medicine. Users can search three separate databases:

• Evidence Based Medicine
• Patient Information Leaflets
• Medical images

A search on “contraceptive implants” returns over 600 items, which the user can filter by clicking on “Systematic Reviews” or “Guidelines” (sorted by region) or “Clinical Questions.”

The same search done under “Patient Information Leaflets” brings back examples from the UK, US, and Australia. There is also a TRIP Blog and a feature which allows registered users to customize their TRIP home page.

For more information on contraceptive implants, check out the following resources: INFO’s new Implants Toolkit A new issue of Population Reports on implants An INFO Report with tools for providers, and… Our One Source search on implants

The new site, called MDG Monitor, was just developed by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Relief Web  and UNICEF to be a one-stop-shop for information on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), globally and at the country level. It is designed for policymakers, journalists, students and people like us who are working in development. 

	Those of us working in reproductive health are most interested in goal #5 - Improve Maternal Health
	and goal #6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases.

You can browse by goal or by location and view maps of the entire world or individual countries.  If you have a high bandwidth connection to the Web, you can also download Google Earth (about 13 MB) and view the entire site through Google Earth.

Speaking of maternal health, if you’d like to track new research coming out about maternal health, search INFO’s One Source database on this topic.