Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and Liverpool Associates in Tropical Health (LATH) have received a £560,000 grant from the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) to set up and deliver a UK International Health Links Centre (IHLC).
The IHLC will act as a 'one-stop-shop' source of information, providing independent advice and guidance to potential developers of links and those wishing to strengthen existing links between health organisations in the developing world and those in the UK. With a dedicated open access website, a library of resources will be available which is appropriate to both international users and NHS organisations in the UK and which will assist them in developing those links.
Project Leader Dr Tim O'Dempsey said "We aim to establish the Centre as the international 'gold standard' model for promoting effective international health links."
The creation of an IHLC has been informed by a recent independent review of existing links projects, commissioned by DFID and the Department of Health as part of the Government's response to Lord Crisp's report, Global Health Partnerships: The UK contribution to health in developing countries, in February 2007, in which he called for the UK health economy to add value to the development work of DFID, supporting the scale-up of training, education and employment of healthcare workers in developing countries.
The IHLC will facilitate connections and knowledge sharing between developing country institutions and all four countries in the UK and promote and share good practice and learning.