documentation - The INCLEN Trust

Stewardship – harmonizing research efforts…Infectious diseases of poverty are a formidablestumbling block to human development andrealization of the health-related MillenniumDevelopment Goals in most low-income countries.Despite increased funding for health research,the impact on human health has been less thanoptimal – partly because research efforts havebeen uncoordinated, fragmented, and sometimesnot well focused with inequity in input from thedeveloping world. At TDR we are trying to redressthis situation.Stewardship will:• help identify priority needs/majorresearch gaps• provide a strategic overview ofinfectious diseases research• provide a global knowledge platformon health research• provide a neutral discussion platformfor stakeholders• advocate for support of healthresearch and the use of its results• foster research networks andinnovative research initiativesAchievementsTropIKA.net – a new knowledgemanagement platform improvinginformation accessFor research to be effective, it is essential thatresearchers can readily access and share informationrelevant to their work. With this in mind, TropIKA.netwas launched in October 2007 as a web-based, globalknowledge management platform (www.tropika.net).TropIKA’s special features useful to stakeholders havebeen widely recognized. It has achieved this successthrough the efforts of the partners involved in itsmanagement such as BIREME/PAHO/WHO (the LatinAmerican and Caribbean Center on Health SciencesInformation) in Brazil and its collaboration withmajor actors in the field of health information: the USNational Library of Medicine (NLM/NIH), the WHOsponsored Health Internetwork for Access to ResearchInitiative (HINARI) and the Public Library of Science(PLoS) journals. During 2009, TropIKA.net aims tobecome a ‘one-stop shop’ for information on researchfor infectious diseases of poverty.“Infectious diseases of povertyremain a formidable stumblingblock to human developmentand the attainment of the healthrelatedMillennium DevelopmentGoals in most low incomecountries ”Complementing this, TropIKA.net knowledge hubshave invigorated dialogue at meetings and conferencesby enhancing preparation, participation, and followup.They also allow those unable to attend in personto provide input during and after the meetings andconferences. Such facilities were used for the first timeat the Ministerial Conference on Research for Health in theAfrican Region in Algiers, (June 2008) and at the GlobalMinisterial Forum on Research for Health in Bamako,Mali (November 2008). Coverage of the Third HighLevel Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Accra, Ghana36