A web portal to help people identify and use vital information related to infectious diseases was launched yesterday (30 October) at Forum 11, the annual meeting of the Global Forum for Health Research.

TropIKA.net, run by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), will provide free information chosen by experts for practical use in infectious disease studies.

"It works as a window reflecting what's going on in this field," said Robert G. Ridley, director of TDR, at the launch event.

Ridley said that increased funding for tropical diseases, along with open-access efforts from publishers and research institutes, has led to large amounts of available information, but this is often dispersed across various sources and offers inconsistent conclusions.

At TropIKA.net, leading experts in the field are invited to analyse the scientific literature to provide clear information of its worth to researchers in developing countries for their work in tropical diseases.

The website also provides facilities for researchers to exchange their views and collects literature into topics to form a larger library of specific research areas.

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