Access to medical information in low- and middle-income countries continues to hinder global health equity. To help meet this universal need, Smile Train and Wolters Kluwer Health are teaming up to bring full online access to select medical journals for Smile Train partners and affiliates globally. The vital resources will be available to Smile Train’s network of local clinicians through Wolters Kluwer’s Ovid research platform.
“As Smile Train embarks on its 25th year of supporting cleft care around the world, this collaboration is another transformative milestone in how we are able to impact patient outcomes,” said Susannah Schaefer, president and CEO of Smile Train. “Bringing timely, trusted medical information to all of our local health professionals allows them to help ensure that children with clefts have everything they need to thrive. We are thrilled to add these resources, which reinforce our commitment to providing safe, high-quality, and free comprehensive cleft care to children around the world.”
Removing barriers to clinical information
With limited budgets, access to medical journals can be difficult for healthcare workers in low-resource settings. Nearly 71% of Smile Train partners report that access to journal articles is a challenge they face when developing research. Additionally, 58% of partners note that access to journal information is a high priority for them in the development of cleft research. Through this initiative, care teams that may not have previously had access to key medical titles, like the New England Journal of Medicine, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, now have instant access to help support healthcare programs around the world.
“Medical research continues to expand and grow, with more global contributions happening than ever before. Wolters Kluwer and Smile Train are both dedicated to increasing equity in access to medical literature and publications throughout the world,” said Rafael Sidi, senior vice president & general manager of health research, Wolters Kluwer Health.
Connecting to the world’s most trusted clinical research platform
To help drive global health equity, consistent and trusted evidence must be available at the point of care, point of discovery, point of reference, and point of learning. Smile Train’s collaboration with Wolters Kluwer directly addresses the challenges surrounding access to clinical research and provides their partners with up-to-date research on best practices in their field. Access to these journals and the Ovid research platform will benefit Smile Train partners, affiliates, and staff in their work as well as in expanding research and clinical knowledge. This is an important step forward for research capacity building and for trusted references, as partners develop their own research.
Ovid delivers thousands of full-text journal articles, eBooks, database resources, and workflow tools in a single integrated solution—making it the leading choice globally among clinicians, researchers, educators, and students in the medical, scientific, and academic fields. For Smile Train and their partners, the world’s largest cleft-focused organization, they can now leverage the Ovid platform to ensure every child with a cleft in need has access to the care they deserve.
About Smile Train
Smile Train empowers local medical professionals with training, funding, and resources to provide free cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care to children globally. We advance a sustainable solution and scalable global health model for cleft treatment, drastically improving children’s lives, including their ability to eat, breathe, speak, and ultimately thrive. To learn more about how Smile Train’s sustainable approach means donations have both an immediate and long-term impact, please visit smiletrain.org.
