Strengthening interdisciplinary communications to meet the needs of primary and district health workers in developing countries

This paper maps professional communities and global forums with a focus on meeting the equipment needs (eg diagnostic, surgical, therapeutic) of family caregivers, primary health workers and small-district-hospital setups in low-income countries. The scope will include the full range of appropriate technologies, with the exception of ICTs, a huge area that is well covered elsewhere (see for example: http: //www.healthlink.org.uk/projects/ict.html) Method: Forums of interest were to be searched bottom-up with commonly used search agents (Google, Yahoo). Each forum would be consulted about related information sources, in a cascade sequence. This would be complemented with a top-down search by asking recognised experts in the field for links to eligible forums or other expert contacts who may be able to contribute such links. Conclusions: Levels of engagement in online forums by those concerned with the equipment needs of health workers in developing countries have remained consistently low. The level of participation by health workers themselves seems to be low. The mapping of current information provision on the web indicates that alternative models of dialogue might be more effective in communication, serving to fill this important information need. This paper recommends strengthening an existing forum or implementing a new one, following a defined model that has been shown to successfully promote dialogue.