MCHIRN Network - April 2008 Newsletter

You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Mother-Child Health International Research Network newsletter.

http://www.mother-child.info

Here's what's new on the Network:

Contest - Win Journal subscriptions to prestigious medical journals!

Thanks to the generosity of our partners, the MCHIRN has teamed up with several medical journals around the world to help stimulate interaction and activity on the Mother-Child website.

The journals available as prizes at present are:

• British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (online)
• Journal of Pediatrics
• Lancet
• Lancet Infectious Diseases
• Archives of Disease in Childhood

How can you earn these journal subscriptions? Simple - you just need to use the website by posting content and commenting on other people's entries. You'll earn rewards - called 'M-C points' - every time you contribute to the website. At the end date of the contest - May 31st - we will tabulate all the points, announce the winners, and register you for a one-year subscription to the journal of your choice!

You can earn M-C points simply by continuing to use the website as you normally would - you don't need to do anything different. Here are some examples of things you can do on the website, and the amount of points you earn from them:

• Post a forum topic: 15 points
• Comment on a forum topic, blog entry or other topic: 10 points
• Uploading an image: 10 points
• Posting an audio file: 50 points
• Posting a new blog entry: 25 point
• Submitting an event: 15 points
• Inviting a friend to the website: 5 points - and 40 (!) bonus points when that
  user registers!

For help and advice on how to do any of the above, check out our revamped "How-to" section by clicking here. We'll walk you through the steps to post a blog entry, forum event or even an audio podcast! You'll also get some ideas for the kind of content and articles that we're looking for, as well as privacy information about how we protect your data.

You can always see your points on your Account page by clicking on "My
Account" in your user menu, and you can also view a listing "wall" with
the highest scoring users on it by clicking on "Users by points" in your user menu when logged in.

http://www.mother-child.info/en/user/login

Mini-documentary of the Kangaroo Program in Bogotá, Colombia

Just recently, the Mother-Child team visited the Kangaroo Program in Bogotá, Colombia. We had the chance to speak directly with mothers and family members about their thoughts on the project, as well as get information from the workers at the San Ignacio hospital. Dr Nathalie Charpak - a registered member on the Mother-Child Network - also talked about her views on the progress of the program around the world.

The Mother-Child Network is hoping to create more of these multimedia spotlights on various projects that our members are undertaking around the world. If you are put of an innovative projects related to Mother-Child health and would like to help promote and popularize it using rich media and the web, let us know.

Click here for the photo gallery from the Kangaroo Centre – video coming in the next few days!

Website Update

We've revised our website based on your feedback - thank you! Ease of use, design, and the entire interface have all been improved. Please let us know what you think.

Three of the principal new features on the website are the Podcasts, Groups and Forums. As you might have noticed above, we're expanding the website to give Mother-Child Health researchers more flexibility in how they want to interact, share and communicate with their peers. So, in addition to the group weblog, we're also providing the facilities for you to create your own private working groups, create audio podcasts to share your thoughts with others, and participate in an open forum for topics that you might not feel deserve their own blog entry, but on which you'd still like feedback from other users.

All of the new sections of the website are explain in detail in our help section here. We also provide you with instructions on how to stay up-to-date with what's happening on the website when you're not around, and what everyone else is talking about. This makes it easier for you to stay on top of new developments and comment on someone else's post.

For any question or comments, please use the contact form on the website, or write to questions@mother-child.org.

- The Mother-Child Health International Research Network Team

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Mother-Child Health