The Australasian Cochrane Centre

The Australasian Cochrane Centre is part of the Monash Institute of Health Services Research based at Monash University in Melbourne. The Centre was established in 1994 at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide and relocated to Melbourne in 1999 under the directorship of the late Professor Chris Silagy. Core funding is provided by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. The Centre now has four branches that co-ordinate Cochrane activities in specific geographical areas: New Zealand, Singapore, South Asia and Thailand.

Role of the Centre
The Centre aims to promote the equitable provision of effective health care in Australasia by facilitating the preparation and maintenance of systematic reviews and their dissemination and application to influence service provision and clinical practice.

We aim to do this by:

• promoting and supporting the involvement of Australasians in the Cochrane Collaboration
• relating to government, health professionals and consumer groups in Australasia about the activities, scope and value of the Collaboration
• fostering the development of new review groups and fields, particularly in areas of inequitable provision of health care
• developing mechanisms and supporting the efforts of Australasians to identify evidence about the effects of health care
• developing and co-ordinating training for review authors and users of reviews in Australasia
• facilitating the dissemination and application of information about the effects of health care to communities, health professionals and policy makers
• promoting research into the science of systematic reviews

In addition, as part of our responsibilities to the international Cochrane Collaboration, we aim to effectively link Cochrane activities in Australasia with the international effort.

The Centre hosts an annual meeting for Australasian contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration. The purpose of these meetings is to provide an opportunity for local Cochrane people to get together and to hear more about issues affecting review authors and staff of Cochrane entities. Meetings have been held annually since 2000 in several locations:

• Melbourne, June 2000
• Melbourne, June 2001
• Melbourne, October 2002
• Aspects of Evidence, Melbourne, March 2003
• Sydney, June 2004
• Cochrane Colloquium, Melbourne, October 2005
• Adelaide, June 2006
• Brisbane, July 2007
  
• Hobart, May 2008

The Centre has hosted the Cochrane Colloquium - the Collaboration's annual scientific and business meeting - on two occasions; the 4th Cochrane Colloquium in Adelaide in 1996 and the 13th Cochrane Colloquium in Melbourne in 2005.

Strategic Plan
To read our Strategic Plan (2006-2008) click here.

The ACC serves as the reference centre for the following countries:
Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, East Timor, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam.

For more information, visit the Regional Activity page.