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Our Mission:
Providing medical
and healthcare information, education and communications in
developing and war-affected regions.
November 2007 Highlights:
 WiRED's
reach into eastern Europe continues with the
October establishment of two more Medical
Information Centers in Bosnia.
The centers were set up at medical schools in
the cities of Banja Luka and Mostar, both of
which are still recovering from the region's
brutal three-year civil war.
Bosnian medical professionals told WiRED
executive director Gary Selnow, on site for the
two openings, what the access to medical
databases will mean to them.
WiRED's humanitarian work fits
with the Medtronic Foundation's
mission, said Hrvoje Badovinac,
country manager for the
corporation's Adriatic division, at
the Banja Luka center opening.
"That is why I am so happy to be
here with you today, because your
project - the WiRED Project –is
fully in line with our goals and
values: it provides access to health
information and this through
education on modern technology and
use of the most recent tools,"
Badonivac said.
In addition to the current funding,
Medtronic has subsidized much of
WiRED's previous work in the former
Yugoslavia.
WiRED has done numerous projects in
the region, setting up both MICs and
Community Health Information Centers
that provide information to the
public as well as medical
professionals in Albania, Croatia,
Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.
Its work in the area began in 1999
in Kosovo, just after the war, in
collaboration with the Global
Technology Corps at the U.S.
Department of State. |
"This is a big step for the future of our
medical school and for our physicians and
students, who will, through these resources,
have easier and more rapid access to medical
information," said Prof. dr.
Ljerka Ostojić, Dean, University of Mostar,
Medical Faculty.
And it will have a ripple effect on healthcare
in the area, she added.
"…It will lay the groundwork for even better
medical care to all the people in this region of
Bosnia," Ostojić said.
Selnow placed WiRED's work in an even larger
context.
"Doctors, who help heal bodies, can, we believe,
also help heal societies by engaging in
discussions and collaborations with their
colleagues abroad," he said.
Much of the funding for the centers comes from
the Medtronic Foundation, the philanthropic arm
of international medical technology corporation
Medtronic.
Read full story.
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