The South African Medical Research Council (MRC) has launched a Web-searchable database that contains results of South African research on illnesses such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Known as the National Health Knowledge Network (SA HealthInfo), the site is targeted at both the general public and the biomedical research community.
"This project is designed specifically to allow the scientific community and general public access to the vast amount of scientific research available in this country and to stimulate innovation in the research process," says Dr Koos Louw, MRC Informatics and Communications executive.
"It resulted from the allocation of a three-year grant by the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Innovation Fund to the MRC and was developed in-house in conjunction with Informix and local South African reseller, CCH Software Development."
The site, located at www.healthnet.org.za, runs on the Informix Internet Foundation.2000 platform.
"Although we only use the Text Datablade, we are looking to introduce other ways of displaying the data using Informix`s image, geo-spatial and perhaps chemical data type handling methods," says Dr Chris Seebregts, MRC systems development manager.
"As our range of data sources grows, we hope to implement a full online analytical processing strategy based on Informix tools. With Informix`s Web software products and knowledge, we can build on and grow the database as the amount of information increases."
The MRC is a statutory organisation charged with managing and performing focused biomedical and health research in SA.
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