Thank you Dean Makawiti. I would like to begin with a word of thanks to the many people who have contributed to this Medical Information Center that we are dedicating today, and to the Community Health Information Center work that has been ongoing in Kenya for more than a year.

U.S. Ambassador to Kenya, Johnnie Carson, will join WiRED International for the opening of a new Medical Information Center at the University of Nairobi Faculty of Medicine on February 4, 2003. “The Ambassador’s participation highlights growing international recognition of the crucial connection between access to information and the health of developing nations,” says WiRED Executive Director Dr. Gary Selnow. “We are honored that Mr. Carson will join us for this important event. This computer facility–the first available in Kenya’s largest medical school-will enable students and faculty to access information that has, to date, been beyond their reach.

WiRED’s Director, Gary Selnow, will soon visit the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He will lead a team of technical experts who will install a Computer Information Center in the school. In addition, they will train the teachers how to use computers in their daily lesson plans.

MISSION To provide information and communication resources that benefit disadvantaged people around the world. View Annual Report – 2002
BACKGROUND WiRED began as a small effort by Dr. Gary Selnow while he was serving as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Zagreb in Croatia.

The Medtronic Foundation, WiRED, Euroregional Commission and Tuzla Medical School join in the celebration. On November 20, 2002, WiRED International launched a new Community Heath Information Center (CHIC) in the Tuzla, Bosnia Medical School. The new Center provides the faculty, students and the community with the latest medical information available on CDs and on the Internet.

Computers and the Internet became a daily part of life for students in three orphanages in Bosnia. Thanks to the generosity of its supporters, Wired transported computers to this region for installation in three Information Access Centers in each orphanage.

WiRED has introduced a new Community Health Information Center in Vukovar, Croatia-the site of the first WiRED Center in 1997. The new Center joins the community activity at the Vukovar Institute for Peace Research (VIPR).

From the moment Kenya gained independence in 1963, local and national leaders have envisioned a day when the country could finally eradicate poverty, ignorance, and disease. Leaders then and now realize that any real progress against any one of these three tightly interwoven challenges requires simultaneous progress in the other two areas as well.

WiRED and the Medtronic Foundation have teamed up to expand WiRED’s humanitarian programs in Bosnia and Croatia. Medtronic, an international medical technology corporation, supports community programs that enhance and extend the lives of millions of people worldwide.

Vukovar, Croatia has taken another step in the reconstruction of their war-torn community with the dedication of a new Community Health Information Center. The Center, developed by World Internet Resources for Education and Development (WiRED) and funded by Medtronic Foundation will focus on daily life-style issues such as diet, nutrition and smoking-cessation.