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OUR ETHOS

“Every year some 300,000 women around the world die in childbirth unnecessarily – not because the knowledge to save them does not exist but because those caring for them do not happen to have that knowledge”.
An Opening Statement at The FIGO World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Rio de Janeiro.

The foundation of The Global Library of Women’s Medicine (GLOWM) in 2008 was in part inspired by the above statement. With the advent of the internet it seemed no longer necessary or reasonable that women, who bear an unequal burden of health-related issues, should suffer because their professional carers lacked access to good, practical and expert clinical guidance wherever in the world they happened to be located. With decades of experience in conventional medical publishing, the Founders were well aware of the traditional difficulties in delivering books and journals to vast areas of the globe, often to those very places that could benefit most from such important and supportive clinical guidance.

So, in the light of the new methods of digital communication that were becoming increasingly effective and available, GLOWM was launched online 15 years ago as an honest attempt to try and make some contribution to the enhancement of women’s healthcare. All its many resources, which now number some 20,000 items, were – from the start – made available FREE to all users. And our provision of clinical guidance is designed to cover the whole life course of women ranging from early adolescence, to the reproductive years, the menopause and issues in old age.

WHAT WE DO

Expert resources. The expert resources that GLOWM provides are principally designed to support the work of doctors but we also provide extensive practical guidance for midwives and nurses. In addition we are currently developing a very large programme to try and offer women themselves practical guidance on health issues that they may encounter during their life course – and which is specifically designed to overcome the challenges of different languages, ethnicities and levels of literacy

Worldwide audience. Over the years GLOWM has also established a very substantial worldwide audience. Internet statistics can be misleading and should be treated with some caution, but it is perhaps worth noting that in 2022 alone the site received over 14 million page views (according to AW Stats) and that the time actually spent on the site does indicate that a significant number of health professionals have found it worth studying carefully (over 80,000 spent more than 30 minutes on the site and more than 68,000 spent over an hour).

Considering less-resourced regions. In less resourced regions, where internet coverage is not always available or reliable, our readership has been assisted by some 120 obstetrician gynecologists who have kindly agreed to act as our “Ambassadors” and have used specially devised Memory Sticks to download the whole of our website resources onto the computers of local medical schools, hospitals and clinics.

Safer Motherhood app. In addition, to extend our outreach as far as possible many of our practical resources are also available on our FREE Safer Motherhood app – and to help embed guidance that we offer, our most important 50 Volume series offers the option of FREE online Learning Assessment at the end of each chapter, with the award of Continuing Professional Development credits (CPDs) when undertaken successfully. (Of course, all chapters in the 50 Volume series are also fully citable.)

IMPORTANT NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Teaching and simulations. We also plan to provide a greater emphasis on practical teaching activities, featuring advanced courses and effective simulations. These will start to be featured from early 2025.

The Global Academy. To provide a suitable home for these new research and teaching activities we have now formed The Global Academy of Women’s Medicine that will run in parallel with The Global Library of Women’s Medicine.

Diplomates Association. An additional feature of the new, Global Academy will be the formation of a Diplomates Association with the objective of bringing together individual health professionals from around the world who have a shared interest in enhancing practical medical education locally and in advocating for more effective support for the healthcare of women in their own countries. Further details about this Association will be provided shortly.

OUR OVERSIGHT

All GLOWM’s activities are overseen by a highly experienced and distinguished Editor-in-Chief and an outstanding International Editorial Board, chaired by a world leader in women’s health. GLOWM submits all materials to careful review and is able to update any element at any time when changes and developments make this appropriate.

FUNDING OUR ACTIVITIES

Supported by our expert contributors. Funding the GLOWM site continues to be a constant and difficult challenge. Since GLOWM is an entirely charitable undertaking that generates no form of income it has been principally dependent from its earliest inception on the generosity and philanthropy of the many experts who have devoted long hours of their time to contribute to it without any kind of fee or remuneration.

Over 800 leading specialists in the field of obstetrics and gynecology from more than 30 different countries have contributed their expert input entirely free – and every year more than 150 specialists continue to do so. It is an extraordinary example of professional goodwill and dedication – and their ongoing support is the basis for everything that GLOWM does.

Grants and donations. Direct funding is also provided by The Founders, by a few grant-giving bodies and private donations, and by unrestricted educational grants from commercial companies. To ensure the complete editorial independence of the content offered, GLOWM does not accept any kind of sponsorship or advertising. GLOWM operates on a very modest annual budget and none of its officers receives any remuneration for their input (except for a single paid employee – an Editorial Assistant).

WWW.GLOWM.COM

Both The Global Library of Women’s Medicine and The Global Academy of Women’s Medicine will be funded and made available by the original not-for-profit Foundation that is currently being registered as a Charity and renamed as The Alliance for Global Women’s Medicine – and all content from both The Global Library and The Global Academy will continue to be directly available at www.glowm.com, free of charge.

COPYRIGHT, REUSE AND DOWNLOADING

All material that has been originated by the Global Library of Women’s Medicine is copyrighted by our Alliance but may be downloaded. It may also be reused freely, provided that this is not for commercial purposes and due acknowledgment is given to its source. However, when the material has not been originated by the Global Library itself, but has been supplied to the Global Library by another organization, the permission of that organization is required and must be obtained.

SPECIAL TRIBUTES

We should like to record a special tribute to Professor John Sciarra, of The Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA, who was the first Editor-in-Chief of The Global Library of Women’s Medicine. He was key to its initial development and retired as Editor-in-Chief in 2012.

We should also like to express our sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to Professor Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, who was our second Editor-in-Chief, from 2012–2018, whose leadership was inspirational.

We are also particularly grateful to the current Chair of our International Editorial Board – Professor Gian Carlo Di Renzo – for his outstanding contribution in helping to develop GLOWM’s rapidly expanding programme and global outreach

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COPYRIGHT

Copyright © The Alliance for Global Women’s Medicine (2025)

PRIVACY POLICY

The Publishers are committed to preserving the confidentiality of any personal details that are provided to us. These details will not be passed on or sold to third parties and will only be used by the publishers for general statistical information. Any information supplied to us will be stored securely either in our own databases or in those of our technical partners.

The Alliance for Global Women's Medicine
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UK