1. The Cochrane Collaboration and South African Cochrane Centre (SACC) Godwin N. Aja, MCH, CHES Department of Health Sciences Babcock University Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria A Workshop Presentation at the African Cochrane Contributors Meeting organized by the South African Cochrane Centre, May 22-29, 2007 at the South African Medical and Research Council Conference Centre, Cape Town, Republic of South Africa

2. The Cochrane Collaboration  An international organization  Aims to help people make well-informed decisions about health care by: Preparing, maintaining, and promoting the accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions. Synthesizing healthcare evidence (since 1993) “It is surely a great criticism of our profession that we have not organized a critical summary, by specialty or subspecialty, adapted periodically, of all relevant randomized controlled trials”. Archie Cochrane, 1979

3. Brief History 1972 Publication 'Effectiveness and Efficiency: random reflections on health services' Oct 1992 'The Cochrane Centre' opens in Oxford, UK. Pregnancy and Childbirth Group registered Aug 1993 Formal launch of The Cochrane Collaboration at the 1st Cochrane Colloquium, in Oxford, UK May 1994Release of version 1 of RevMan Apr 1996 The Cochrane Library launched by Update Software Feb 2000 Inaugural meeting of the Campbell Collaboration Apr 2002 The Cochrane Library was made free at the point of use for access under the HINARI scheme for developing countries

4. Cochrane Logo  Seven randomized controlled trials (RCTs)  Comparing short, inexpensive course of a corticosteroid with a placebo.  Each horizontal line represents the results of one trial (the shorter the line, the more certain the result);  Diamond represents their combined results  Vertical line indicates trials had similar effects  Diamond to the left of the vertical line indicates treatment studied is beneficial.  The first of these RCTs was reported in 1972.

5. The principles  Collaboration  Building on enthusiasm of individuals  Avoiding duplication  Minimizing bias  Keeping up to date  Ensuring relevance  Ensuring access  Continuous quality improvement  Continuity  Enabling wide participation

6. Cochrane Collaboration Structure Collaborative Review Groups Fields The Consumer Network Centres Steering Group Methods Groups

7. Cochrane Centres South African Australasian Chinese Brazilian Nordic German Italian Iberoamerican Dutch UK Canadian US

8. CRG structure Editorial Office Co-ordinating Editor Review Group Co-ordinator Trials Search Co-ordinator Editors Statisticians Internal/External referees Consumer referees Contact/feedback editors Review authors Handsearchers

9. Web site

10. South African Cochrane Centre (SACC)  Part of the international Cochrane Collaboration  The only Cochrane Centre in Africa and serves as the reference Centre for individuals in the following African countries: Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe Website: http://www.mrc.ac.za/cochrane/cochrane.htmhttp://www.mrc.ac.za/cochrane/cochrane.htm

11. SACC Mission  To prepare and maintain systematic reviews of the effects of health care interventions. To promote access to and the use of evidence from systematic reviews in healthcare decision making throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

12. SACC Current Projects  African Trials Register African Trials Register  Evidence in Action Board Game Evidence-based Practice Evidence in Action Board GameEvidence-based Practice  Training workshops HIV/AIDS Mentoring Programme Training workshopsHIV/AIDS Mentoring Programme  Reviews for Africa Programme (RAP) Reviews for Africa Programme  Supporting Translation of Evidence into Policy and Practice (STEPP) Supporting Translation of Evidence into Policy and Practice  Systematic Review Group Problem-busting Sessions Systematic Review Group Problem-busting Sessions  Cochrane systematic review protocol development and RevMan workshop Cochrane systematic review protocol development and RevMan workshop