An article written by three JHPIEGO information technology
experts and published in the journal Internet Health
examines the lessons learned and best practices for
expanding reproductive health learning opportunities in
low-resource settings through the use of computer centers.
Internet Health is a peer-reviewed journal on medical
research, applications, communication and ethics.
The authors, Theresa C. Norton, senior information
resource developer; Richard L. Sullivan, director of the
Learning and Performance Support Office; and Susan J.
Griffey, vice president for technical operations, wrote
that students and health care professionals in low-resource
settings have few options for staying up-to-date in their
health fields, and they discuss best practices for
improving health education in the field that have been
fine-tuned by JHPIEGO since 1999.
Since pre-service education and in-service training
institutions in many developing countries have limited
resources, to achieve sustainable development of updated
health care professionals, international donor
organizations are turning to information and communication
technology.
Since 1999, JHPIEGO, under a cooperative agreement
with the U.S. Agency for International Development, has
been establishing Technology-Assisted Learning Centers,
known as TALCs, at key health sciences schools and
in-service training centers in countries such as Bolivia,
Malawi, Haiti, Nepal and Uganda. As JHPIEGO works to
integrate TALCs with other efforts to strengthen curriculum
and training systems, it has seen disparate outcomes of the
TALCs, depending largely on variables of the host
institutions and telecommunications infrastructures.
The article published in Internet Health
discusses the lessons learned and development outcomes of
expanding health education opportunities through TALCs. The
article, "Expanding Reproductive Health Learning
Opportunities in Low-Resource Settings: Technology-Assisted
Learning Centers," can be accessed online at
http://www.internet-health.org/ih200431e05.html.
JHPIEGO builds global and local partnerships to
enhance the quality of health care for women and families
around the world.
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