Organisation of the working party

A teleconference of the small group (Frank Archer, Mike Clarke, Paul Garner, Sally Green, Pisake Lumbiganon and Prathap Thayan) was arranged for 09.00 GMT on Tuesday 18 January 2005.

Examples of working together

Nandi Siegfried (South African Cochrane Centre) and Liz Waters (Health Promotion and Public Health Field) have been discussing the updating of reviews being worked on by authors in Cape Town.

Communication

A special section is now live on The Cochrane Collaboration's web site to provide information on the Collaboration's response (http://www.cochrane.org/docs/asiancrisis.htm). The content of the site will evolve.

Cochrane Colloquium in Melbourne

A dedicated meeting time has been arranged for people from the affected regions and others to discuss the disaster. The Cochrane Collaboration's AGM might be used as an opportunity to update people on the situation.

Suggestions of reviews to prioritise

A list of more than 100 suggestions is being prioritised within the working party to target reviews and evidence summaries.

Preparation of summaries

The Australasian Cochrane Centre has offered to co-ordinate the preparation of summaries for relevant reviews and is sharing ideas with the Infectious Diseases Group and others about this. The Injuries Group is hoping to prepare an overview summary of their reviews on blood transfusion and intravenous fluids for people with injuries.

Funding

Discussions are ongoing with the Collaboration's Funders and Users' Forum about possible sources of additional funding for, for example, prioritised reviews or summaries. The special section of the Collaboration's web site also provides brief information on how people who might wish to make a financial donation to help with this work can do so.

Contact with people in the affected region

There have been several replies to the message that Jim Neilson and Kathie Clark sent to members of The Cochrane Collaboration in the affected region. These replies will help to prioritise the Collaboration's response to the disaster.

Contact with other agencies

The South African Cochrane Centre has prepared a list of relevant agencies to whom relevant information can be disseminated and from whom advice will be sought.