Useful Resources

The Open Society Institute (OSI) teamed with EBSCO Publishing to launch the Electronic Information For Libraries Direct (EIFL Direct) project in october of 1993. With funding from the Soros Foundation, EIFL Direct provided a variety of the world's finest full text and bibliographic databases to Public and Academic libraries in 39 participating countries, including 10 countries in Southern Africa. But funding for continuation of this project was not made available for several Southern African countries in 2001. Recently, however, OSISA (Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa)'s ICT Program has provided the necessary funding to once again allow these libraries to enjoy access to these large collections. Moreover, the number of developing nations now accessing these databases is even larger than the original group that participated in EIFL Direct. For further details and enquiries on how your NGO can access Electronic journals, do contact Colleen Mills at EBSCO.

The South African Health Review 2001 was launched on the 26th of March 2002. It consists of 17 Chapters dealing with various aspects of the Health Care System. Also, the section on Health Indicators has been updated and is also available for searching purposes.

Gunther Eysenbach, senior researcher, Christian Köhler, researcher, Unit for Cybermedicine and eHealth, Department of Clinical Social Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Germany BMJ 2002;324:573-577 ( 9 March, 2002 ) Little is known about how consumers retrieve and assess health information on the world wide web. Some surveys have elicited data by using semistructured questionnaires or focus groups, but little (if any) unobtrusive observational research has been done to explore how consumers are actually surfing the web. Although several criteria for quality of health websites have been proposed, including disclosure of site owners, authors, and update cycle little or nothing is known about whether and to what degree such markers are recognised or even looked at by consumers or what other credibility markers consumers are looking for. The authors aimed to obtain qualitative and semiquantitative data to generate some hypotheses on how consumers might search for and appraise health information.

With more than 115 programs profiled, this new, updated version responds to a growing interest in health services research and health policy and increasing demand for information about Post Baccalaureate certificates, Master's programs, Doctoral programs, and Postdoctoral programs in these fields. It has been expanded to include health policy research programs and the health policy tracks in public policy programs as well as the core health services research programs included in our two earlier editions-1997 and 1992. While the 2002 edition does not include international programs, other than the eight Canadian programs profiled, future editions may be expanded to include programs outside North America. Print copies will be available this spring. If Interested in profiling your program, please visit our website for detailed information. Contact Information: Virginia Van Horne,Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy,1801 K Street, NW, Suite 701-L,Washington, DC 20006. Tel: 202-292-6744 Fax: 202-292-6844