Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) In response to an overwhelming appeal for access to health information from researchers and scientists in the developing world, the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) was launched in January 2002. HINARI is a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO), major international publishing companies and offers access to academic institutions, which currently provides free or low-cost access to over 2400 online biomedical and social science journals for eligible institutions in 103 countries. fulltext: What is HINARI? In response to an overwhelming appeal for access to health information from researchers and scientists in the developing world, the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) was launched in January 2002. HINARI is a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO), major international publishing companies and offers access to academic institutions, which currently provides free or low-cost access to over 2400 online biomedical and social science journals for eligible institutions in 103 countries. Am I Eligible? If your institution is located in one of the 103 countries qualified countries (please refer to the list of all eligible countries at www.who.int/library/reference/temp/eligible_countries.pdf) and is either a national university, research institute. professional school (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, dentistry, etc.), teaching hospital, government office or national medical library, then your institution should qualify for free or low-cost access to HINARI. All staff members, students and visitors of your institution will be entitled to access the journals. How Can I Register? If you think your institution meets the criteria, then all you need to do is go to our website, www.healthinternetwork.org and fill out the registration form. Once our staff has determined that you meet the conditions you will be given a User ID and password and you can start using the system, and accessing journals immediately. Your institution will also be sent a licence agreement, which it is required to fill-in and sign, certifying that you will use the system in agreement with the conditions set by the journals' publishers. How Much Does it Cost? There are two levels of eligibility for HINARI which were determined according to your countries' per-capita annual gross national product (GNP) at the time the system became fully operational. If you are in a country, whose GNP was less than $1,000 USD, you are eligible for free access for the duration of the licence agreement (currently at least until the end of 2006). However, if your country's GNP was between $1,000 and $3,000 USD then your institution will be required to pay $1,000 USD per calendar year. Institutions who pay for access will be given a three month free trial membership to the system prior to having to decide if they would like pay for HINARI's services. We encourage you to review the list of eligible countries on the HINARI website to determine your country' status. Questions/Contact Information The staff at HINARI is proud to be able to offer this service to you. We hope that more equitable access to health information will assist you in providing better care for your patients and better training for your staff. If you have any questions regarding the system or your country's eligibility, please do not hesitate to contact us at hinari@who.int