ProMED-mail: Background and Purpose

Abstract

Vol. 7, No. 3 Supplement, June 2001 Emerging Infectious Diseases 563 The online program to monitor emerging diseases (ProMED-mail) was established in 1994 with the support and encouragement of the Federation of American Scientists and SatelLife. The principal intent of ProMED-mail is to assist local, national, and international organizations in disseminating, as rapidly as possible, reports of outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases wherever they occur; these reports are taken from sources such as media reports, online summaries, local observers, official reports, and others. Subscribers are encouraged to contribute reports and to participate in the dialogue. With a minimum amount of funding, volunteer moderators, and a bulk mailer in Newfoundland, ProMEDmail grew from 40 subscribers in 1994 to its present number of over 20,000 in more than 160 countries; there are no subscription fees. Since 1999, ProMED-mail has been administered by the International Society for Infectious Diseases, with servers and software furnished by Oracle, Inc. The e-mail service provider is located in the Harvard School of Public Health. At a “Meet the Professor” session of the 2000 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases,” ProMED-mail staff described the history and purpose of the list-serve and fielded a wide range of queries from an attentive and supportive audience, most of whom were already familiar with ProMED-mail but not, it turned out, with the website . “Would ProMED-mail report the occurrence of Ebola disease if it occurred in New York City?” Of course. “Has ProMED-mail felt constrained by governments or individuals in governments from reporting disease occurrences?” No. ProMED-mail: Background and Purpose