Cyber-doctors
target developing countries with free advice
Atlanta,
20 June 2000 - A leading
medical organization is using the internet to spearhead an ambitious plan to
deliver free, instant medical assistance to people in the world's least developed
nations.
The WebMD Foundation www.webmdfoundation.org
- the philanthropic arm of US-based Healtheon/WebMD Corporation
- has collaborated with the United Nations and the World Health Organization
to launch the "Inter-Network", an international web portal offering
health information to medical practitioners all over the world.
The non-profit venture relies
on The WebMD Foundation's plans to install 100 internet-accessible computers
in each of the 130 poorest nations around the world.
By 2003, the foundation
says it hopes to have established a service which doctors, nurses - and eventually
the general public - can consult for instant, free and regularly-updated medical
information.
"What we're talking
about here is global knowledge equity," said WebMD Foundation President
and Chief Executive, Dr George Gellert. "We're talking about giving all
people access to the same cutting edge health information that we take for granted
in the developed world.
"People are immediately
struck by the enormous logistical challenge it will be to install 13,000 internet
terminals in areas of the world where there is often no electricity, let alone
telephone wires. However, as difficult as that will be, the greater challenge
will be to create content applications that the end users will find useful and
valuable."
To that end, the foundation
will be relying not only on the medical expertise of its parent corporation,
Healtheon/WebMD, but also on content provided by a range of internationally-recognized
health authorities including the World Health Organization.
"It's a perfect example
of the private and public sectors cooperating," said Dr Gellert. "The
private sector is offering to build the vehicle, or vessel if you like, but
it's up to the public sector to determine what goes in it.
"We can make a vehicle
which is easy to use and easy to access, but we could never pretend to be able
to provide content which is relevant to every community in every developing
nation in the world. For this reason we are bringing together leading experts
to aid us in content development."
Dr Gellert said he hoped
the Inter-Network would also serve as a two-way communication system between
health professionals within developing countries and also around the world.
"Eventually, we would
also like to see the network being used more widely," he said. "Ideally
it will get to a point where the people of these nations are coming to our internet
terminals to log on and learn first-hand the best way to put up a mosquito net
or how to make sure the water they are serving their children is clean."
Funding of the US$150m project
will rely heavily on donations from private companies.
"We will be looking
for donations of not only computer hardware and telecommunications expertise,
but also of what we call 'sweat equity'," said Dr Gellert. "That is,
the donation of time and on-the-ground expertise by private sector employees
for infrastructure installation and maintenance.
"This is a moral imperative
for the advanced and affluent nations of the world. And it cannot be done without
the help of the public sector, because we need their input and credibility.
"The winners from all
of this will be neither the public nor private sector but the people around
the world who are currently dying from ignorance."
www.webmdfoundation.org
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Global Compact