Organizers of International Conference on HIV/AIDS Education Turn to Centra to Enable Virtual Participation in Annual Meeting
LEXINGTON, MA – Centra (NASDAQ: CTRA), the leading provider
of business software solutions for eLearning and real-time collaboration, today
announced that the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC)
will use Centra’s real-time Web conferencing software to enable virtual participation
in the Fifth Annual International Conference on Healthcare Resource Allocation
for HIV/AIDS (ICHRA). Scheduled to take place April 15-17, 2002, in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, the entire ICHRA 2002 program will be made available to globally dispersed
healthcare professionals in remote locations using Centra. This year’s agenda
will be highlighted by the introduction of a new set of HIV/AIDS therapy guidelines
to be introduced at the Conference by the World Health Organization (WHO.)
"People around the world are benefiting from instantaneous access to far-off
libraries, universities, and other troves of information over the Web,"
said Jose M. Zuniga, President and CEO of IAPAC. "Physicians are reinventing
their profession, utilizing telemedicine to administer off-site diagnoses or
accessing up-to-the-minute clinical guidelines over the Internet. Inequities
in access to this kind of information, however, have created a ‘digital divide’
within the medical community, which is why our partnership with Centra is critical."
In response to this inequity, IAPAC initiated the Internet Medical Exchange
program, also known as I-Med Exchange. I-Med Exchange aims to provide computer
hardware and software, Internet and e-mail access, an HIV/AIDS educational Web-based
curriculum, and the creation of physician partnerships over the Web. The I-Med
Exchange Program is taking the lead in bringing knowledge and training to the
people who need it most, relying on Centra to help them deliver classroom training
to participating physicians in real-time over the Internet. Utilizing Centra’s
capabilities for integrated voice over IP and high-performance over dial-up
network connections, healthcare workers in remote areas of Southern Africa are
able to collaborate online with world-renowned AIDS experts and participate
in annual meetings to exchange ideas, share documents, and receive training
on the latest medical developments and therapies. Added Zuniga, "In some
parts of the world, acquiring small-scale access to antiretroviral therapy has
represented a major breakthrough. In other settings, the challenge is not access.
The challenge is filtering a vast amount of information about a dizzying array
of treatments. Using Centra, we are able to offer programs that help address
the global crisis of access to HIV/AIDS care, while allowing remote medical
personnel to get the information and education they require to make a difference
in the treatment of this disease within their local communities." Software
Infrastructure for eLearning and Collaboration Used in over 775 companies, government
agencies and universities worldwide, Centra’s enterprise products and services
are based on CentraOne(, a robust and extensible thin-client architecture for
eLearning and collaboration. By leveraging the core capabilities of the Web-based
CentraOne platform, Centra is the only company to offer a full range of compatible
eLearning and collaboration solutions – from voice-enabled virtual classrooms,
Web conferences, and online meetings to powerful products for content management,
personalized eLearning, and standards-compliant authoring. Through this integrated
environment, organizations can increase the overall effectiveness of their eLearning
initiatives, targeting the appropriate mix of live and self-paced learning formats
and activities for each audience or strategic business task.
"One of Centra’s key advantages for these remote doctors and healthcare
professionals is that we can deliver highly collaborative eLearning quickly
over the lowest Internet connections – which makes Centra an ideal and much
desired solution for users in regions with less advanced communications infrastructure,"
said Tony Mark, President and Chief Operating Officer of Centra. "We are
pleased to help IAPAC tackle one of the most serious social and medical challenges
facing the world population today through education and the rapid dissemination
of timely information and skills."
About IAPAC
The International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC) represents
more than 10,500 member physicians and healthcare professionals in 52 countries.
IAPAC is devoted to crafting and implementing global strategies to better the
lives of all people affected by HIV/AIDS. For more information, visit www.iapac.org.
About Centra
Leading with an undisputed track record of helping millions of users to increase
revenue and improve overall business performance, Centra provides Web collaboration
solutions that enable the delivery of information in a variety of live and self-service
formats, and add value through unmatched capabilities to capture interactions
and content, personalize and manage this information, and instantly re-use it
across the enterprise. Today hundreds of global organizations across every industry
and market sector choose Centra, including ExxonMobil, Cadbury Schweppes, Citigroup,
AT&T, Procter & Gamble, McKesson, Merck, Nationwide Insurance, Sysco,
and Stanford University. Centra’s products are bolstered by a vital ecosystem
of strategic partners, including PwC Consulting, Deloitte Consulting, EDS, KPMG
iLS, Microsoft, Siebel, Cisco, and Oracle. Headquartered in Boston’s technology
corridor, Centra has sales offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
For more information, visit www.centra.com.
Contact:
Sharon Dratch
Centra
Tel: 781-994-1151
