Dear All,
We received the Notice below
from Hinari management and wondered when Nigeria was taken out of Free
HINARI?.
Nigeria's population accounts
for 2% of the World population but contributes about 10% of the global maternal
and child mortality because of its weak health system. With a population of
over 180 million ( expected to be the world’s third most populous country in
about 20 year’s time, after India and China), Nigeria is an oil producing
country but Its income per capita remains one of the lowest in the world,
especially with the rapid fall in prices. Nigeria is one of those countries
whose health system needs urgent strengthening but how is that possible without
unfettered access to the health information and research evidence that HINARI
carries?. Health institutions and libraries are amongst those under funded
since the global economic down turn. And at the current exchange rate, the
US$1,500 ( the fee mentioned in the Hinari notice below) amounts to about
N675,000 (the National minimum wage is N18,000 per month). HINARI will
become unaffordable to most users in Nigeria, if truly HINARI has moved the
country to a 'Pay list', no matter how low the fees. it is premature to take
Nigeria out of the Free List, when in reality it istill amongst the 100 poorest
countries in the world.
Whilst stakeholders like the
Nigerian Medical Association continue to mount pressure on the Government to
increase health funding and make health information more accessible and
affordable, it will be a shame, if truly, HINARI has removed Nigeria from the
‘free list’. Strengthening Nigeria's system through making health
information available and affordable to practitioners, patients and carers will
become very very difficult if the country has been moved to the 'pay list' of
HINARI!! In the mean time, its health and development indices shall remain
appallingly low.
Hinari should think again and
put back Nigeria where it had been - the free hinari list!
As you know, access to the
Research4Life programmes provides the same access to information for
researchers in low- and middle-income countries as their counterparts in the
rest of the world. Research4Life, through 4 programmes (Hinari,
AGORA, OARE, and/or ARDI) focused on health, food and agriculture, environment
and technology, gives access to many resources. Just in the Hinari programme
(for example) there are:
2,910 online journals
20,700 online books
50 other resources including
reference works and databases
from 110 scientific,
technical, medical and social science publishers
The fee for access to these
resources for institutions in Nigeria is US$ 1500 each year.
This is the same as the
average cost of a scientific journal at today's rates. We estimate that
the true value of the Research4Life package of content is up to US$ 5
million. Instead, Research4Life offers this package of content to
institutions like yours for US$ 1500, enabling researchers, professors,
students and practitioners in your institution access to the world's most
current information. And the payment grants access to all the Research4Life
programmes (Hinari, AGORA, OARE, and/or ARDI) further increasing the value
gained.
What positive impact has
access to the Research4Life programmes made in the work of researchers and
their institutions?
Access to the Research4Life
programmes will support and help the staff at your institution build the skills
by taking this up-to-date information and putting it into action. Here are 8
stories about how access to Research4Life has made a difference: http://www.research4life.org/case-studies/stories-from-the-field/
The following testimonies are
a further reflection of the value of these materials:
"HINARI has changed the
way we do research here. having access to information and publications is the
foundation of the research that i do. as an institution, we have
access to one other database but the scope is very limited and handling HINARI
is much easier and quicker. PLEASE PLEASE continue this programme.
we would be lost without it. I've written to several editors of journals that
are not available on HINARI to please consider granting access through it. I
believe that the purpose of research is dispersal of information, not just to
those who can afford it, but primarily to those who need it. what is the point
of research that the cannot be accessed by those who can use the
information?."
"Access to AGORA has
enabled us to initiate programs within the university and apply them on the
land."
"My access to OARE when
I did my PhD programme did not only enable me as a person to achieve my goal
but also to improve the quality of life among people where diarrhoea and
coughs, among other preventable ailments, have been ravaging lives of children
and many adults in a vicious disease circle."
We encourage you to share
this message and the attached information sheet with the budget administrators
in your institution or other sponsors in order to support your need for paying
the US$ 1500.
For your information, you can
see the Hinari list of international publishers which offer access to their
content in Nigeria as part of this fee by using the dropdown box here: http://extranet.who.int/hinari/en/country_offer.php . There are similar websites for the other
programmes.
Please let us know if you
need any further information about using or paying for the Research4Life
programmes. ‘’ from HINARI.’’
Africa Center for Clin Gov
Research & Patient Safety
@ HRI West Africa Group - HRI WA
Consultants in Clinical Governance
Implementation
Publisher: Health and Medical
Journals
8 Amaku Street Housing Estate,
Calabar
Cross River State, Nigeria
Phone No. +234 (0) 8063600642
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