ONLINE HEALTH INFORMATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Information and communication technologies have not been harnessed systematically to improve the health of populations in developing countries. These technologies empower those who use information by providing them with a choice of information to be accessed in their own time and by allowing them to put their own information on the web. The current digital divide is more dramatic than any other inequity in health or income. The quality of health information available on the web is inconsistent, and the visibility of research from developing countries is limited. The way forward is to exploit the full interactivity of the Internet, which allows rapid feedback and change to continuously mould information into useful knowledge.