During a two-day conference at the Medical City Center in Baghdad this week, several hundred Iraqi physicians and government officials met to discuss building a Center of Excellence (COE) for the study and practice of medicine. The main goal of the COE Medical and Public Health Unit is to increase medical and public health expertise in the Middle East.

WiRED International hosted a meeting at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC on September 25th, bringing together telemedicine experts from 12 leading medical, technology, and nonprofit organizations from across the country [see sidebar]. The consortium participants explored ways they could pool their skills, experience, and resources through an International Telemedicine Network (ITN) to deliver medical education and information systems to the poorest developing countries in the world.

Read Dr. Gary Selnow’s address to the Children’s National Medical Center ITN Organizational Meeting held on September 25, 2008.

In a whirlwind three days in August, WiRED opened Medical Information Centers (MICs) in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. Ribbon cutting ceremonies at the three new MIC openings brought out doctors, nurses, hospital administrators and many celebrants from the local communities.

Los Países Centroamericanos le Dan la Bienvenida a los Nuevos Centros WiRED

In June 2008, WiRED, its IT partners, and the ICDDR,B provided critical medical information to Iraqi doctors via videoconference and training videos to help contain an outbreak of cholera.

On June 24, 2003, WiRED International launched its first Medical Information Center (MIC) in Iraq. Now, five years later, WiRED celebrates the anniversary of this launch, having installed more than 30 MICs throughout the country and video conferencing facilities in four Iraqi cities.