by Gary W. Selnow, Ph.D.
In mid-March, I visited the first Medical Information Center WiRED installed in Iraq. That was last June when WiRED's technician, Che Pangborn, and I launched the Center in Baghdad's large Medical City Center with 10 operational computers and a complete medical e-library for use by thousands of medical faculty and students. (Read our Dedication Ceremony story.) That facility was the first of its kind in Iraq and one of four we installed last June.
I returned this year to Baghdad on March 15 to plan for a larger program we will initiate this spring and to visit the Centers we put in place last year. How gratifying it was to find the Medical City Center Information Center filled to capacity with medical students and physicians conducting their research on these computers. It remains the primary source for current information in this medical school. Medical City Center recently received a satellite system that provides Internet access, so the computers are now tied to the Net, which expands the research possibilities. WiRED is currently working to access a wide array of medical sites for the Iraqi medical community.
The other three Centers we installed last year are also up and running, although only the Medical City Center currently has Internet access. WiRED's medical information program for Iraqi physicians and students remains the only such effort in the country. Expansion of the program to 20 medical schools and teaching hospitals within the next few months will provide information access to all medical faculty and students.
The expansion is underwritten by generous grants from The Medtronic Foundation, Pfizer Inc., the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, Affinity Internet and many private donors.
WiRED is collaborating on this effort with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society.
WiRED works in cooperation with the Marian Wright Edelman Institute at San Francisco State University.
Layout by Brian Colombe.
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