[procaare] We have much to be thankful for -- You - Happy New Year!

[Holly Ladd <hladd@usa.healthnet.org>]

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

This time of year provides us with an opportunity to reflect on what has been and dream
about what is to come.  You have all been essential in our millennial year here at
SATELLIFE, and for this I would like to thank you.  We have kept the lights on, the doors
open and the information flowing with your contributions of news, shared stories and
incredible accomplishments.

We have, together with SATELLIFE/HealthNet Kenya, successfully launched the Regional
Information Technology Training Centre and trained over 100 health care workers to use the
tools of electronic information exchange.  HealthNet Kenya has taken on the task of
operating the RITTC into the future.  New partnerships like that with the WorldSpace
Foundation and our journal publishers have lead to a successful trial of the new digital
radio system.  This will enable us to send large volumes of information, including
complete journal articles with graphics to receivers all over Africa and may enable
information sites to download, store and retrieve years worth of critical information.
Our new partnership with Volunteers in Technical Assistance means that we can return to
the use of low earth orbit satellites to bring affordable communications to the most
remote areas. New, smaller, cheaper and more user friendly ground stations are in
production and the first of these should be in the field within the month.

Our discussions groups - Afro-Nets, ProCAARE, ProCOR and E-Drug - with all its
sub-groups - are flourishing.  This year in response to readers' requests, we launched a
second electronic journal HealthNet News AIDS as a companion to our regular publication of
HealthNet News.  The number of people receiving HealthNet News has doubled in the last
twelve months.

All of this would not be possible with out the incredible contributions of our moderators:
Syed Rixanuddin Ahmad, Wilbert Bannenberg, Jaoquin Barnoya, Carinne Bruneton, Manju
Chatani, Tim France, Alberto Figueras, Tam Garland, Hildbrand Haak, Samer Jabbour, Richard
Lang, Roberto Lopez Linares, Max Luna, Kirsten Myhr, Gerard Nau, Dieter Neuvians, Jerome
Sclafer, Albert Shaw, Mushin Sheriff, Beverly Snell, and Lessette Turner.
These individuals give inordinate amounts of time to review all the messages, ensure the
quality of the discussions, select relevant material and keep each you connected.  For
this we are immensely grateful.

We thank our medical editor Dr. Ramnick Xavier for the time and energy he puts into each
issue of HealthNet News and HealthNet News AIDS.  His continuing dedication to our mission
has strengthened us all.

We thank all of the systems operators and support people in the field who ensure that
local e-mail continues to flow through the HealthNet sites on the ground.

And, in this extraordinary year we thank the volunteers who make up the SATELLIFE Board of
Directors and we thank our lawyers - who continue to provide us with the best legal
counsel,  pro bono, in our efforts to retain our name and the mark "HealthNet".

We are excited about the coming year -- the challenges remain but the promise is great.
Together we can achieve great things.

Please accept our best wishes for the holidays and the New Year.  We raise a glass to
toast friends and colleagues we have lost this year and rededicate ourselves in their
memory.

And a second toast - here's to each of you - may you have great personal and professional
success in the coming year!

Sincerely,
Holly Ladd
Executive Director
SATELLIFE


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