The Canadian Cochrane Centre is one of 13 independent, not-for-profit Cochrane Centres worldwide. Over 1,600 people in Canada are Cochrane members who contribute to systematic reviews of treatments used in health care. Systematic reviews are a reliable source of evidence to help people make well-informed decisions about health care.

The CCC is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Registration for the Cochrane Canadian 8^th Annual Symposium is now open! Be sure to register now to receive the Early Bird rate and to secure a seat at our social gathering at Absolute Comedy – Ottawa’s premier comedy club. We’re also still accepting abstracts for workshops, oral and poster presentations. Find all the details at ccncsymposium.com.

We thank you for your support over the last ten months in The Cochrane Library national license pilot project. The pilot, which began April 2009, has allowed us to compile compelling data that provides a solid rationale for a national license. We invite you to read a summary of the survey results here.

While the pilot ends 1 February 2010, work towards a permanent funding model continues and all existing subscribers should renew their subscriptions for 2010. Your commitment and support has been critical in laying the foundation to move this important initiative ahead.

Wiley will create a specific webpage in early February to communicate information regarding the end of the trial to Canadians where they will be offered a survey/feedback option, an invitation to sign-up for more information and future email communications, and the option to sign up for a free six-month individual trial. The pilot access will be granted a special extension until this webpage is ready to launch.

Your continued support for a national license for The Cochrane Library is important. We encourage you to contact your local MP stating the importance of this resource and asking that the government get behind it. Please feel free to send us a copy of such communications. You can find your local MP here.

We will continue to relay information regarding The Cochrane Library as it develops. Thank you again for your support. 

Cochrane Helping Haiti: Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, The Cochrane Collaboration is working with colleagues in WHO, PAHO (the WHO regional office in the Americas), the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination and others to make relevant details from Cochrane reviews available through our Evidence Aid resources. Visit The Cochrane Collaboration for more information. The Evidence Aid project is continually improving its materials and processes, to ensure the Collaboration is able to make an appropriate response when these dreadful disasters occur, and we will be thinking about how to better do this.

Call for Abstracts: Join us for the 8th Annual Canadian Cochrane Symposium on 19-20 May 2010. This year’s symposium theme, Evidence in Uncertain Times: Meeting the Challenge, reflects the urgent need to network, share and communicate what we have learned about the best ways to produce, synthesize and use research evidence to improve the health of Canadians. We encourage you to participate in this exciting event by submitting an abstract by 12 February 2010. Further details are available ccncsymposium.com. We welcome different perspectives from patients, practitioners, policy makers, students, review authors and researchers.

Publication goes monthy! The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and the ‘About The Cochrane Collaboration’ database moves to a monthly publication in 2010. The increased publication frequency allows for publication of new evidence more rapidly and benefits both Library users and Collaboration members.  

Further information about the move to monthly publication, including the new 2010 schedule, changes to publication icons, and contacts for queries, is available on the Help page of The Cochrane Library:

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