Wolters Kluwer Health Donates Electronic Medical Resources to the Global Health Community to Support the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Care of the H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu)
New York, NY (May 5, 2009) – To help physicians, pediatricians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals combat the current H1N1 flu outbreak that is seriously affecting thousands of people globally, Ovid, part of Wolters Kluwer Health’s Medical Research business and a global leader in the development and delivery of customizable electronic research information for the medical, scientific and academic communities, announced today that it is providing hospitals and healthcare centers around the world, including Mexico, where the virus is believed to have originated, with free 30-day access to the Ovid MEDLINE® database and CABI's Global Health database on the OvidSP platform. As a leading aggregator of medical content, Ovid also invites other publishers to join its efforts to support immediate access to important medical and scientific resources so healthcare workers can quickly and effectively respond to the outbreak.
In addition, UpToDate, Ovid’s sister company within Wolters Kluwer Health, is also supporting the global fight against H1N1 by providing free access to professional and patient articles.
On April 29th, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its pandemic threat awareness level from phase 4 to 5 (out of 6), which indicates an “imminent” risk of a pandemic from H1N1.
“Mexican healthcare professionals need fast access to reliable, current information so they can accurately and efficiently diagnose the H1N1 virus, treat infected patients, and prevent further spreading,” said Karen Abramson, President & CEO of Wolters Kluwer Health Medical Research. “We are committed to providing the global medical community with electronic access to important medical literature, none of it embargoed content, that will help them in their efforts to quickly address the spread of this current outbreak, and are pleased with the fast response by CABI to participate in this important health initiative.”
“The faster that medical professionals and health authorities can get to important public health information, the better; and the OvidSP platform is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s most efficient tools for accessing relevant, actionable information,” said Carol McNamara, Executive Director, Commercial of CABI. “We are pleased that Ovid has asked us to join in its efforts to support the global healthcare community, and are prepared to do all we can to help during this crisis.” CABI has also created an H1N1 “dashboard”, designed to provide healthcare workers, health authorities, and the public globally with real-time information and answers on frequently asked questions about influenza and the current outbreak as well as providing access to the Global Health database.
Visit http://www.netvibes.com/cabialerts for the CABI “dashboard.”
MEDLINE, produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, is a widely used bibliographic source for current biomedical research dating back to 1948. Updated daily, MEDLINE includes more than 18 million records drawn from more than 3,900 journals and other publications in over 70 countries. The OvidSP implementation of MEDLINE provides researchers and clinicians with fast access to precise and comprehensive answers to their search queries.
CABI's Global Health is the only bibliographic, abstracting and indexing database available devoted to public health research and practice. Indexing journals and other full-text publications produced in more than 150 countries in 50 languages, the database contains a growing list of more than 2 million bibliographic records. More than 40% of the information is unavailable anywhere else. Users will find hundreds of bibliographic records with specific information on swine flu in humans.
OvidSP is designed for speed, simplicity, flexibility, and delivery of relevant and precision search results. Whether they’re beginners or more advanced online searchers, users can choose from various search “modes”, such as Basic or Advanced Search, depending on how they prefer to search and what kind of information they need. Refining and manipulating results is very easy with simple, intuitive workflow tools. Users can simultaneously search multiple resources, such as Global Health and the MEDLINE database, with just one search query.
Ovid’s on-staff librarians have prepared an extensive bibliography of full-text resources available on OvidSP that include important information on prior influenza pandemics, infection control, antiviral therapies, planning and preparing for an influenza outbreak, and more. Sample OvidSP searches are also included in this bibliography.
UpToDate is allowing free access to two professional topics and one patient topic via its marketing website, www.uptodate.com. Professional topics, normally available only to subscribers, are written by a faculty of physicians and are designed to help clinicians quickly get answers to clinical questions. Patient topics are available free to the public. The professional topics on H1N1 focus specifically on epidemiological aspects, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of H1N1. The patient topic provides information on symptoms and treatment. Visit www.uptodate.com to view the topics.
About Ovid, UpToDate, and Wolters Kluwer Health
Ovid is a global information solutions provider offering clinicians, professionals, students, and researchers in the medical, scientific, and academic fields customizable solutions of content, tools, and services that make research smarter, faster, and more effective. Ovid is used by the world’s leading colleges and universities; medical schools; academic research libraries and library consortia; hospitals and healthcare systems; pharmaceutical, engineering and biotechnology companies; and HMOs and clinical practices. Ovid is a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry.
UpToDate® is an evidence-based, physician-authored medical information resource - available via the Web, desktop and PDA. With UpToDate, physicians can answer questions quickly, increase their clinical knowledge and improve patient care. Patients may also subscribe to UpToDate and gain access to the same current, in-depth medical content trusted by physicians, allowing patients and physicians to make shared medical decisions. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Waltham, Mass., UpToDate is relied on by more than 360,000 physicians worldwide, 88 percent of academic medical centers in the U.S. and thousands of patients. UpToDate is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry.
Wolters Kluwer Health is a division of Wolters Kluwer, a leading global information services and publishing company. The company provides products and services for professionals in the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services, legal, and regulatory sectors. Wolters Kluwer had 2008 annual revenues of €3.4 billion ($4.9 billion), employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 35 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Visit www.wolterskluwer.com for information about our market positions, customers, brands, and organization.
About CABI
CABI is a not-for-profit science-based development and information organization. Its mission and direction are influenced by member countries that help guide the activities undertaken. These include publishing; development projects and research; and microbial services. CABI produces key scientific information, including CAB Abstracts – the world-renowned bibliographic database covering agriculture and the environment. CABI also publishes multimedia compendia, books, e-books and full text internet resources aiming to further science and its application to real life. Our expertise includes animal and veterinary sciences, entomology, plant sciences, environmental sciences, human health, parasitology, mycology, crop protection, rural economics, rural development and leisure and tourism. For more information go to www.cabi.org
Contact
Robert Dekker
Director of Communications
Wolters Kluwer Health
(215) 521-8928
Robert.Dekker@wolterskluwer.com
Connie Hughes
Director, Marketing Communications
Wolters Kluwer Health - Medical Research
(646) 674-6348
pressinfo@ovid.com