By Lawrence Mbuagbaw & Harriet MacLehose
13 June 2012 - Posted by thecochranelibrary.com

The Cochrane Collaboration is a leader in the preparation of high-quality systematic reviews, but they are prepared and available mainly in the English language. This alone greatly undermines the potential of Cochrane Reviews as building blocks for decision-making in many low- and middle-income countries, including those in Africa, where evidence about the benefits and harms of healthcare interventions is needed urgently.  

There are two main reasons why more efforts should be steered towards translating Cochrane Reviews into the French language. Firstly, if Cochrane Reviews aim to alleviate disease burden, their efforts should be directed at the region with the highest burden – Africa.[1] Secondly, Africa has the highest number of French speakers, with approximately 115 million people spread across 31 countries.[2] Also, although there are many French public health publications available, they seem to respond to the health needs of France and not the developing French-speaking countries.

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