Omni-Net Ukraine Birth Defects Prevention Program
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International Birth Defects Information Systems Omni-Net Ukraine Birth Defects Prevention Program
Mission: Amelioration, Prevention and Genetic Counseling concerning Birth Defects, Genetic Disorders, Congenital Malformations, Anomalies and Developmental Disorders

Humanities Resources Pregnancy
  • Establish birth defects surveillance systems, treatment and prevention programs based on international standards.
  • Prevent developmental disabilities related to institutionalizations with emphasis on early interventions.
  • Promote creation of parental support groups.
  • Promote medical education, training and research through national and international partnerships.
  • Estabilish electronic information resources for dissemination and tele-consultations.
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Cyberspace and Birth Defects (BD) Programs in Ukraine

Serhiy Lapchenko 1 and Wladimir Wertelecki, M.D. 2

1 Volyn OMNI-Net Center and Regional Children's Clinical Hospital Ukrainian Birth Defects Registry, Lutsk, Ukraine
2 Department of Medical Genetics, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, USA

Background: IBIS (http://www.ibis-birthdefects.org) is a web site resource for five OMNI-Net centers that provides access to selected and current BD information to professionals (mostly in English) and to parents and the public (mostly in Ukrainian). IBIS also plays a central role to electronically publish and disseminate translated and adapted materials to local circumstances and to implement "open book" policies upheld by OMNI-Net by posting reports and data sharing.

Method: To assess the effectiveness of IBIS in Ukraine on regions other than those where OMNI-Net Centers are located, we compared patterns of utilization of IBIS with those of a Companion web site – Pandora Word Box (PWB) (http://www.pandorawordbox.com/) dedicated to medical etymology and humanism given solely in English.

Results: Google search engine ranks IBIS and PWB among the ten top web sites concerned with "Birth Defects" and "Medical Etymology and Humanities". Over 30,000 and 20,000 pages of IBIS and PWB respectively are viewed weekly. The proportion of visitors from Ukraine to IBIS is drastically higher than for PWB (visits from Ukraine rank 2nd and 30th respectively). Visits to IBIS within Ukraine originate mostly in regions lacking OMNI-Net Centers. The global popularity of IBIS was not anticipated and is perhaps due to an emphasis on providing sources of information in other than English languages, in particular those from the developing world. Over 1 million pages yearly are opened.

Conclusions: IBIS is an essential resource for OMNI-Net partners, a shared cyberspace accommodating coordinated development of information and its dissemination. Dialogue with international IBIS visitors indicates that cloning core features with emphasis on additional languages, particularly those from less affluent nations is desirable.

See:

        © 2002- (W. Wertelecki, M.D.) www.ibis-birthdefects.org, All rights reserved. 18 Feb 2016  
American Medical AssociationClick to verify Birth Defects OMNI-Net Websites This site offers information mostly for educational purposes. This site is not intended to alter health care protocols nor to serve as a sole source of medical information. Always seek the advice of your local health care provider.

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