The Central American Network for Disaster and Health Information.
OBJECTIVE
This paper describes an international outreach program to support rebuilding Central America's health information infrastructure after several natural disasters in the region, including Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and two major earthquakes in 2001.
The National Library of Medicine joined forces with the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, and the Regional Center of Disaster Information for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID) to strengthen libraries and information centers in Central America and improve the availability of and access to health and disaster information in the region by developing the Central American Network for Disaster and Health Information (CANDHI). Through CRID, the program created ten disaster health information centers in medical libraries and disaster-related organizations in six countries.


RESULTS
This project served as a catalyst for the modernization of several medical libraries in Central America. The resulting CANDHI provides much needed electronic access to public health "gray literature" on disasters, as well as access to numerous health information resources. CANDHI members assist their institutions and countries in a variety of disaster preparedness activities through collecting and disseminating information.
Arnesen
Stacey J
SJ
stacey_arnesen@nlm.nih.gov , Advisor for Special Projects.
Cid
Victor H
VH
Scott
John C
JC
Perez
Ricardo
R
Zervaas
Dave
D
D002489:Central America; D003199:Computer Systems; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007253:Information Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D007391:International Cooperation; D020407:Internet; D046609:Libraries, Digital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016243:Library Collection Development; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D012984:Software