The Academy for Health Equity and Disability (AHEAD) is a not-for-profit health and disability training and education organisation based in Australia. Working closely with the UK non-profit organization, the Interactive Health Network (IHN), AHEAD draws from IHN’s extensive experience with innovative technologies and eLearning expertise. AHEAD promotes excellence in leadership, international health and education directed towards developing country priorities. We are committed to addressing health inequities and the provision of health care to those in greatest need, through the application of online technologies as a tool for health worker communication and capacity building. AHEAD’s Vision is that of a world in which people have equal access to health care and medical and health education regardless of disability, age, class, gender or nationality. AHEAD’s Mission is to support capacity development and knowledge generation of health and disability workers in developing countries through online technologies, training and networks.

  

  

  

AHEAD and IHN frequently collaborate together as international non-profit organizations dedicated to using online technologies to combat health inequities. To date, we have focused on real-time educational events using satellite and ISDN with many events on health information for developing countries in collaboration with the World Bank, World Health Organisation, UNAIDS and others. We have linked extensively with Africa, Asia and South America in an effort to increase the North-South exchange of information. Speakers in events to date have included Jordan’s Queen Noor, Graca Machel, UN Ambassador Holbrook, World Bank President James Wolfensen, World Health Organisation Directors Gro Brundtland and Derek Yach, UK International Secretary of State Clare Short, UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot, Former President Jimmy Carter, and other prominent members of the international medical community. Other participants have included many current and former Heads of State, Koffi Annan, Bill and Melinda Gates, Henry Kissenger and many health ministers. These events have helped to increase the exchange between developing and developed countries and have increased the profile of the importance of international health issues.

  

Healthcare in developing countries can be limited by many different resources: lack of healthcare workers with sufficient training, lack of diagnostic equipment, lack of treatment facilities or essential pharmaceuticals; and lack of education or expertise in many relevant areas.  Much of the healthcare done in developing countries is by local lay persons or practitioners or by volunteers working with a variety of NGOs.  These volunteers are often very dedicated young people with a vision of health-for-all that is often frustrated in the limited time they are able to spend in these areas and further constrained by meager resources (including availability of appropriate information).  The availability of medical expertise and consultation depends largely on the geographical location of the health practitioner and of the patient as well as the level of integration with local practitioners and extent of outside agency involvement.

  

Furthermore, there are often many NGOs working simultaneously on similar projects in the same region without knowledge of each other’s activities. Often this occurs simply because a lack of communication exists between or among the organizations, resulting in unnecessary duplication of effort. The healthcare worker in developing countries is frequently faced with a paucity of information appropriate to the clinical situations on hand as well as a lack of locally available expertise. The lack of access to healthcare and other vital resources is one factor in the much lower life expectancy in the least developed countries compared to industrialized nations (51.2 years vs. 74.2 years overall). In many developing countries there is only one doctor for 5-10,000 people, compared to a ratio of 1:200 in many developed countries.  In Malawi, for example, there is only one physician per approximately 50,000 population and only one nurse per 30,000 people. Textbooks, if they exist, are likely to be 10-20 years out of date and are often directed more at the needs of developed countries.

  

There is thus a growing need for wider availability of training and information on healthcare in developing countries and support for health and disability workers. There is also a need for increased communication and collaboration between governmental and non-governmental organizations working in international health to share education, resources and to coordinate efforts in areas supporting improved healthcare delivery.