SciDev.Net

This is a portal to the websites of associations that aim to advance our understanding of oncology and how to better treat patients with cancer, both in the developed and developing worlds.

Each partner association is represented in the portal with a website describing and providing information relating to the organisation, its structure, news, research projects, activities, membership, resource information, selected links, and so on.

Cancerworld also hosts the Cancer Media Service, operated by the European School of Oncology and aimed at journalists. The independent service aims to put cancer research into context, which it does by publishing well written and easy-to-read summaries of the latest cancer research. Perhaps even more useful is its list of resources for journalists that includes links to several medical dictionaries and cancer organisations worldwide.

The health gateway of the Climate Institute, which aims to help policymakers tackle climate change, has detailed notes on the resurgence of infectious diseases through global warming. These include vector-borne diseases spread through mosquitoes, ticks, triatomine bugs, sandflies and blackflies. It also looks at rodent-borne diseases, which are also set to increase as the climate changes — increased heavy rainfall can drive rodents out of their burrows and climate change is set to alter human migration patterns which could bring people into closer contact with rodents.

Set up by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
(ICTP), eJDS aims to facilitate access to scientific literature for free in the fields of Physics and Mathematics, by distributing scientific articles via email to developing-world scientists with poor Internet connectivity. Several major publishers have adhered to the programme, with exact rules over access dependent on each publisher. Access to eJDS is granted on an individual basis and requires registration.

The GBIF is an intergovernmental organisation committed to making information on the world’s biodiversity freely available on the Internet. It hosts an online data portal providing free access to scientific records on plants, animals and microbes, including 12 million records on biological specimens. The data are provided by natural history museums, botanic gardens and herbaria as well as conservation organisations.

GBEP aims to unite G8+5 countries in a commitment to promoting bioenergy for sustainable development. Its primary activities relate to energy security, food security and sustainable development.

GBEP aims to produce an updated inventory of networks, initiatives and institutions dealing with bioenergy. It also seeks to: identify gaps in knowledge or areas of weak understanding; carry out feasibility studies for market building activities, in cooperation with developing countries; establish mechanisms for raising awareness and dealing with internationally relevant issues, such as environmental standards, food security and trade, and gaps in technology and policy; and formulate standard guidelines to measure emission reductions gained by promoting and using biofuels in the transport and energy generation sectors.

Global Health Action is a free, online, peer-reviewed journal devoted to public health challenges. The journal, launched in 2008, aims to fill gaps in health information between rich and poor countries. Papers should address the global health agenda and include a strong policy or implementation component. The journal welcomes manuscripts from the developing world and may waive the publication fee for authors who are unable to pay. It also offers a manuscript mentorship scheme to less experienced researchers.

The GHF's mission is to document the impact of climate change on humans, much of which is health-related. The website expands on the forum's key goal to raise awareness of "climate injustice", by which it means that the world's poor who cause "less than 1 per cent of global emissions, suffer 99 per cent of the casualties". The GHF achieves this goal through advocacy, especially at major climate change conferences. The organisation also works with public and private partners on key projects, including Weather Info For All, which seeks to provide reliable weather information to vulnerable communities affected by climate change.

This partnership of government and non-government organisations, researchers, international bodies and the private sector has a much-called for goal: to increase cooperation between organisations involved different sectors such as health, climate, humanitarian assistance, ecosystems, research and operational services.

The partners collaborate on regional projects to increase capacity within the medical and environmental science communities; use rural communication networks to provide information to remote communities; and enhance the capacity of public-health services to predict and respond quickly to cholera, malaria, meningitis and other climate-sensitive diseases.

IEA Bioenergy was set up by the International Energy Agency in 1978, with the goal of fostering collaboration between countries with national bioenergy programmes. It undertakes a series of 'tasks', each with a work programme led by a participating nation. Ongoing tasks include analysing bioenergy systems and producing biomass from sustainable forestry.