Networking for Health: Health Professionals Using Email Discussion Forums for Development

New information and communication technologies have revolutionized communication by supporting many-to-many communication for the first time, primarily via email discussion forums. These forums are being used to create and network communities of health professionals in information and knowledge sharing and can become ongoing online conferences for not only knowledge sharing, but also knowledge generation. Because this application is supported by one of the cheapest, most widespread and easiest to use technologies–email–the digital divides are narrower than with other applications. Email discussion forums are an easy-to-use and relatively accessible and inexpensive tool to support participatory communication among health professionals, and in particular to support those working in developing countries against death and disease.