ProMED-mail’s International Community

Announcement, petition.
Dear Colleagues,

When people ask me about ProMED, I tell them things subscribers already know. I explain the importance of disease surveillance and information dissemination. I talk about the links between animal and plant diseases and human health. I point out how ProMED provides the speed, accuracy, and reliability of information that are key factors in containing outbreaks. However, the most important, unique thing about it, I tell them, is that ProMED is more than a publication, it is a community and it is truly international.

A glance at today’s ProMED-mail alerts tells the story: this morning, there are 64 red, orange, and yellow pins spread all across the map of the world representing the most recent disease postings. These data points – and the full reports, analysis, and context that accompany them – have been identified, submitted, researched, vetted, and written by ProMED’s network of 45 rapporteurs, moderators, and editors, each with deep knowledge of infectious diseases. Based in 25 countries around the globe, the team of infectious disease experts that ProMED has built and nurtured is able to connect to a worldwide community: their posts to ProMED-mail are dispatched to over 61,000 readers in at least 187 countries.

We are constantly striving to enlarge the international infectious disease community, working to engage additional scientists, physicians, epidemiologists, public health professionals, and others interested in infectious diseases on a global scale in our work. And we are constantly working to expand the depth and range of ProMED-mail’s reporting. The development of the East African and French-speaking African ProMED networks has enhanced the quality of infectious disease reporting in these regions and catalyzed advances in the application of informal surveillance techniques. These editions now have over 1,900 readers and have increased the flow of information from these important regions. We have plans for similar new networks in the Middle East and South Asia.

Expanding ProMED coverage and building our readership makes ProMED stronger, more comprehensive, and even more fascinating. But these efforts, however rewarding, are expensive. We need support to keep ProMED operating; we need your support to keep ProMED growing.

I hope you agree that ProMED-mail has demonstrated its ability to deliver important clinical and public health information, make productive connections, and provide the context you need to deal with fast-moving and emerging infectious diseases puzzles.

If you use ProMED-mail, if you believe that it contributes to your work, if you rely on the access to accurate, reliable information ProMED-mail delivers and feel that being part of an international community are important, please donate generously. Please donate today.