1. MDC 2008 Reproductive health information on the World Wide Web Dirk Schoonbaert ITM Library April 1, 2008

2. Program  Internet information retrieval tools.  Reproductive health resources on the World Wide Web.  Practical exercises.

3. Information overload  Many millions of webpages are available on the Internet.  There are huge differences in quality, relevance, reliability.  Every day thousands of pages are added, updated, removed or have their address (‘URL’) changed.

4. Information deficiency  Not all data that are published on paper or in electronic databases are also available on the Internet.  Not all electronic resources can be accessed by everybody (intranets!) or for free (commercial services!).

5. Web indexes Word-based machine-generated indexes: generally far more pages than needed are found. But relevance-ranking is generally quite good. E.g.: Google [+ Google Scholar] All the Web Ask.com

6. Web directories Subject-based human intellectual endeavour: hierarchically structured, often evaluated, annotated. E.g.:  General, comprehensive: Yahoo, Open Directory Project, …  Biomedical & health related: HealthWeb, MedlinePlus, Essential Health Links, …  Covering specific topics, e.g. sexually transmitted infections, reproductive health, …

7. Reproductive health …  DHS - Demographic & Health Surveys [reports, data]  ELDIS - Institute of Development Studies [documents, country profiles]  Engender Health [fact sheets, guidelines]  FHI - Family Health International [publications, programs]  Alan Guttmacher Institute [journals]

8. … Reproductive health  IPPF - International Planned Parenthood Federation [resources]  Population Council [journals]  Reproline (JHPIEGO) [multilingual]  RHG - Reproductive Health Gateway [Comprehensive portal]  Sexual and Reproductive Health (WHO) [ documents]

9. Types of available resources …  General information: e.g. fact sheets, problem or disease descriptions, major control or treatment measures, policy statements, …  Links, addresses, conference calendars, course materials, reading lists, software, …  Publication catalogs: full-text versions may be available in print only, but descriptions, summaries and sample chapters are often offered freely on the website.

10. …Types of available resources  Newsletters: often full-text and free.  Electronic journals editions.  Bibliographic databases: Medline/ PubMed, Popline, Population Index, …  Factual databases: DHS, UNAIDS, …  Knowledge databases: Cochrane Library

11. Exercises Find information (guidelines, reports, …) using the directories or RH sites listed above:  Reduction of vertical transmission of HIV  Prevention of cervical cancer  RH and HIV/STI programmes in Tanzania

12. ITM Library linking pages  http://lib.itg.be/biblinks.htm http://lib.itg.be/biblinks.htm links to selected biomedical websites  http://lib.itg.be/journals.htm http://lib.itg.be/journals.htm links to selected journal websites  http://lib.itg.be/ebooks.htm http://lib.itg.be/ebooks.htm links to selected electronic books  http://lib.itg.be/datab.htm http://lib.itg.be/datab.htm links to selected databases