Goal
 |
| Accessing online resources on Research4Life portal |
Since early 1990s, thousands of students, researchers and lecturers in majority of public universities and research institutes in Africa have faced challenges to gain access to current scientific information needed for education and research. Universities and research institutes are unable to pay subscription fees to peer-reviewed international scientific journals that can cost the organisation more than $1 million per year. This is now addressed by the Research4Life programmes.
Programmes
The four Research4Life programmes
are HINARI (Access to Research in Health) launched in January 2002 and managed by
WHO, AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture) launched in 2003 by
FAO, OARE (Online Access to Research in the Environment) launched in 2006 by UNEP,
and ARDI (Access to Research for Development and Innovation) coordinated by
WIPO. The four UN agencies are working closely with other partners including
Cornell University, Yale University, the International Association of
Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, some two hundred publishers and
technological partners including Microsoft. Public institutions such as government ministries and departments, hospitals and clinics, universities and colleges, professional schools, research institutes, extension centres, national libraries, as well as local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 48 African countries are eligible for free or low cost access to Research4Life Programmes. The programmes are accessed at www.research4life.org and an institutional registration is required to obtain a dedicated username and password. Among others, institutions already using the programmes include the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of Tanzania, the Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC) in Sudan, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, National Veterinary Research Institute (Nigeria), Black Lion Hospital (Ethiopia), King Faisal Hospital (Rwanda), Kenya Medical Research Institute, Aga Khan Hospital (Kenya), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana, University of Zambia, Addis Ababa University and Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (Senegal).
Impact
The impact of
Research4Life on work, life and community is documented in a booklet - Making a difference: Stories from the field:how access to scientific literature is improving the livelihoods of communitiesaround the world. Examples from Africa, illustrated in the booklet, include
researchers, scholars and scientists in Malawi who produced quality and well
researched project reports, scientific papers, theses and dissertations; a
physician in Zambia who used scientific information from the programmes to
improve the lives of HIV-infected children; a doctor in Ethiopia who
successfully treated a patient with a rare and serious condition; a Nigerian
researcher who completed his PhD studies and other research on organic
agriculture, biopesticides and biofertilizers; and a Sudanese policy-maker who
used the information to introduce evidence-based policy development designed to
improve the Sudanese people’s health.During the tenth anniversary of the launch of AGORA, in September 2013, Stephen Rudgard, then Chief of Knowledge and Capacity for Development at FAO, said that AGORA had contributed to changes in behaviour of scientists, academics and practitioners in terms of their information use. "Researchers and academics using AGORA have been able to plan their research more effectively and ensure that their work is not duplicative. They have been able to find new technologies developed outside their own arenas, test them to ensure they are applicable locally, and then pass them on to farmers. In addition, they have been able to use literature to update their curricula."
Capacity Development
 |
| Participants at a Research4Life workshop in DRC |
