Closing the digital divide

Editor—Smith applauds the progress made in providing access to the internet in the developing world.¹ Unfortunately the reality on the ground may not be as rosy.

I have just completed two years in a major sub-Saharan African university that was in the first phase of HINARI access. Having been initially starved of information while there I rushed to gain access. Unfortunately I was directed to the websites of two other international projects that were also providing free access to research materials over the internet.

I found poorly presented sites with complex addresses and passwords, and with limited access to full text journals. I contacted the projects repeatedly over the following months from my local internet café, trying to get better materials, but finally gave up, frustrated. It was only on my return to the United Kingdom that I discovered that I had been directed to the wrong sites. The HINARI website (www.healthinternetwork.org/) would have provided all that I needed.

How can we ensure that access to HINARI is available to those who need it? If I—as someone who was in the university, computer literate, and keen to access journals—failed, then there is little hope for the rural majority with limited computer skills.

Communication in countries must be improved through training programmes and publicity. But it is also the responsibility of international projects participating in information supply to the developing world to direct casual searchers like myself to good quality central portals like HINARI rather than to their own poorer versions. All too often good resources can be confounded by interagency competitiveness. To ensure that the HINARI address is spread as widely as possible, all need to focus on this major portal so that the users at the sharp end do not receive confused messages.