The Singapore Branch of the Australasian Cochrane Centre was established on 28th July 2005 to promote awareness and support the Cochrane Collaboration activities in the South-East Asian region. The Australasian Cochrane Centre (ACC) has branches in New Zealand, South Asia and in Singapore , which is its third branch. The Branch is part of the Clinical Trials & Epidemiology Research Unit (CTERU) which is under the directorship of Dr Tan Say Beng. The Unit is wholly funded by the National Medical Research Council, Ministry of Health, Singapore.
			Cochrane Workshop on Systematic Reviews: Cochrane Workshop on Systematic Reviews: Locating, synthesizing and publishing Locating, synthesizing and publishing the best available evidence the best available evidence Date:17 & 18 April 2006
The launch of the Singapore Branch of the Australasian Cochrane Centre at the Systematic Review Workshop on 28 th July 2005 by Prof Sally Green, Director of the Australasian Cochrane Centre, Melbourne and Prof Jean-Paul Deslypere, Clinical Trials & Epidemiology Research Unit, Singapore.

Mission Statement:

1. To promote and support the involvement of clinicians and allied health professionals in Singapore and the South-East Asian region to the Cochrane Collaboration.
2. Provide training and support to review authors and contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration.
3. Promote the awareness and use of The Cochrane Library.
4. Contribute to the Collaboration's efforts to identify reports of trials by searching Singapore journals and databases.
5. Establish links with the Thai Cochrane Network and collaboration with clinical reviewers in South-East Asia .

Staff of Singapore Branch of the Australasian Cochrane centre:

WHAT IS THE COCHRANE COLLABORATION?

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international, non-profit, independent organisation, established to ensure that up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare interventions is readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions, and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of the effects of interventions. Documents about its history include a chronology of the organisation, and an article describing the evolution of The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and The Cochrane Library between 1988 and 2003. This shows how Cochrane Reviews were conceived as electronic publications from the outset, and designed to take advantage of features unique to electronic publishing. The constitution of The Cochrane Collaboration is contained in its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

THE MEANING OF THE NAME

The Cochrane Collaboration was established in 1993, and named after the epidemiologist, Archie Cochrane (1909-1988), a British medical researcher who contributed greatly to the development of epidemiology as a science. The organisation benefits from thousands of contributors worldwide, working collaboratively from within many independent groups of people ('entities'). For this reason, the term 'collaboration' is used. The Cochrane Collaboration's principles include fostering good communication, open decision-making and teamwork; reducing barriers to contributing; and encouraging diversity. These things cannot be achieved without people co-operating with each other, setting aside self-interest, and working together to provide evidence with which to improve health care.

WHAT THE ORGANISATION DOES

The Cochrane Collaboration prepares Cochrane Reviews and aims to update them regularly with the latest scientific evidence. Members of the organisation (mostly volunteers) work together to provide evidence to help people make decisions about health care. Some people read the healthcare literature to find reports of randomised controlled trials; others find such reports by searching electronic databases; others prepare and update Cochrane Reviews based on the evidence found in these trials; others work to improve the methods used in Cochrane Reviews; others provide a vitally important consumer perspective; and others support the people doing these tasks. The Cochrane Collaboration website (www.cochrane.org) provides information on a variety of ways of registering interest or becoming directly involved .

STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT

The members of The Cochrane Collaboration are organised into groups, known as ' entities', of which there are five different types:

• Collaborative Review Groups are made up of people who prepare, maintain and update Cochrane Reviews, and people who support them in this process. Each Group has an 'editorial base' where a small team of people supports the production of Cochrane Reviews. These Groups focus on particular areas of health (for example, Breast Cancer, Infectious Diseases, Multiple Sclerosis, Schizophrenia, Tobacco Addiction).
• Cochrane Centres (some of which have additional branches) support people in their geographic and linguistic area. Dependent on available resources, some Centres are able to provide training, help with translations, networking, etc. Newcomers are encouraged to contact their local Cochrane Centre for information about The Cochrane Collaboration; this can save a lot of time and effort.
• Methods Groups are made up of people who develop the methodology of Cochrane Reviews.
• Networks (some are called ' Fields ') focus on dimensions of health care other than specific health problems, such as the setting of care (for example, primary care), the type of consumer (for example, older people), or the type of intervention (for example, vaccines).
• The Consumer Network provides information and a forum for networking among consumers (mostly patients), and a liaison point for consumer groups around the world.

The Cochrane Manual contains detailed descriptions of the responsibilities of each of these groups of people ('entities'). Cochrane entities receive their funding from different sources, but agree to follow the policies and practices of The Cochrane Collaboration (also contained in The Cochrane Manual).

The development and implementation of policy affecting The Cochrane Collaboration are the responsibility of the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group (CCSG), after Collaboration-wide consultation:

• The Steering Group is guided by the goals and objectives contained in the Collaboration's Strategic Plan in developing policy. Steering Group members serve for one or two three-year terms and there is an election for about a third of the members each year. This election uses a system of proportional representation, and each member of the Steering Group represents people from one of the types of Cochrane entity. The new members of the Steering Group take office at the Annual General Meeting. The Steering Group meets face-to-face twice a year, and between these meetings it conducts its business by telephone conference and e-mail. The Steering Group has three sub-groups and seven advisory groups.

FUNDING

The Cochrane Collaboration's central functions are funded by royalties from its publishers, John Wiley and Sons Limited, which come from sales of subscriptions to The Cochrane Library . The individual entities of The Cochrane Collaboration are funded by a large variety of governmental, institutional and private funding sources, and are bound by organisation-wide policy limiting uses of funds from corporate sponsors. There is a Funders' Forum to help facilitate discussions between The Cochrane Collaboration and funders. This is a partnership between The Cochrane Collaboration, those who fund its infrastructure, and those representing institutions with an interest in using the outputs of The Cochrane Collaboration in the development of health policy, guidelines and other major publications based on high quality reviews of evidence. Enquiries regarding funding should be directed to the Collaboration's Chief Executive Officer. 

INTERNATIONAL AND INTERCULTURAL WORK AND COMMUNICATIONS

The Cochrane Collaboration is committed to involving and supporting people of different skills and backgrounds, to reducing barriers to contributing, and to encouraging diversity. A document entitled 'Cross-cultural team working within The Cochrane Collaboration' gives advice on communicating with people from other cultures. Members of the organisation often work in teams spread across great distances, and so they communicate largely by e-mail . Information of widespread interest is disseminated via an e-mail discussion list called ' CCInfo ' which anyone can join, and in printed newsletters such as ' Cochrane News '. Meeting other members of the organisation at our annual conferences ( Cochrane Colloquia ), and regional meetings of Cochrane contributors, are other ways of fostering good communication.