About The WHO Gopher

[Jeffrey Jon Shaw]

Dear Lois,
 
Finally got the funds that the Wellcome promised for the Network
but I have heard nothing from Vanderlei about PAHO. He seems to
be presently dealing in millions so perhaps PAHO and the Network
are rather small!
 
Below is a message as requested by Dora.
If you think its OK let Dora know and she can send it out.
 
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Dear Colleague,
 
The Welcome notice that you received when you logged into the
Leishmania-Listserver tells you how the idea of the Network
began. We at BDT do not know whether the Network will take over
from the Listserver or whether the two will continue separately.
These kinds of decisions can only be taken when we see how things
develop.
 
My personnel interest in Leishmaniasis began some 30 years ago
when I contracted the disease in Panama as a Ph.D., student. At
that time those interested in the disease, with a few exceptions,
formed a small friendly group and everybody knew more or less
what the others were doing. Funds were limited and an effort was
made to avoid what could have been considered as poaching or
unecessary duplication. Logically if you submitted a grant
application for something that nobody else was doing you stood a
better chance of getting support. These are the attitudes of many
group which you see in so many different walks of life.
Unfortunately in the field of leishmaniasis this attitude began
to break down as the field became bigger and more people with
different research interests entered into it. One can speculate
as to why this happened, but one possibility is that people could
not communicate easily with each other. A personal hope of my own
is that the Listserver and Network will break down any
communications barrier and that those interested in Leishmaniasis
will once again become a group of friends with a common driving
force who have confidence in each other. The success will depend
on the input of each person and the degree of trust that we have
in each other. A cynic said to me that money was so difficult
that people would never be willing to be as open as they were
before. I disagreed with this for the reasons that I mentioned
above about duplication. Whose right? 
 
There are many ways that we can help each other and in the end
get support for our common interest - Leishmaniasis, which in my
opinion we will still be battling against long after we have
learnt how to deal with malaria. It is my sincere hope that the
Network will become well structured and useful to as many
different groups as possible, ranging from the student interested
in learning about the disease, the public health worker who wants
to control it efficiently and the specialized research groups
seeking help from others. The usefulness of the Listserver and
Network depends on us. 
 
Your collaboration is vital. No contribution is to small, no
question to banal. If you don't like what is going on tell us.
The Listserver and Network are not the property of any one person
or institution but belong to the leishmaniasis community in
general. Their major function is to serve as a communications
forum for those interested in any aspect of the disease or
parasite. What we are trying to do would not have been possible
a few years ago, but thanks to the incredibly rapid advances in
communications networks all you need is a modem and a computer.
So lets talk to each other! 
 
This message was written before either the Listserver or Network
were officially launched and we would be grateful to anybody who
would be willing to act as a moderator of any area that he or she
thinks is important. Besides this we particularly need the Email
addresses of those interested in Leishmaniasis so that we can get
the ball rolling. So when you login or reply send us some names
and addresses.
 
Have a look at the skeleton Network that is available on the BDT
GOPHER and let us know what is missing.
 
We anxiously await your suggestions, questions or whatever.
 
With best wishes
Jeffrey Shaw
Manger Leishmaniasis Network
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Have been travelling a lot on projects and consultancies and only
now have I managed to get around to preparing the message. All we
can do is keep our fingers crossed.
 
With best wishes
 
Jeff
 
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Fax 55-91-226-6997
Tel 55-91-226-8631
Email jeffrey at bdt.ftpt.br
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