Branch of the Cochrane Collaboration founded in Croatia

Abstract

At the end of 2006 the Croatian Medical Journal and theUniversity of Split School of Medicine started a campaign toestablish a Croatian entity of The Cochrane Collaboration.The reasons for founding a Cochrane entity in Croatia werethe advancement of evidence-based medicine and multifoldeducation of Croatian health care workers about The CochraneLibrary and its importance for medicine. In 2008 theCroatian Branch of the Italian Cochrane Center was foundedwith the purpose of promoting evidence-based medicine,The Cochrane Collaboration and The Cochrane Library inCroatia, and to encourage Croatian healthcare workers to becomeauthors of Cochrane systematic reviews. The CochraneCollaboration prepares, maintains and promotes systematicreviews for the benefit of clinical medical practice. The CochraneLibrary is a result of international effort, mostly basedon the work of thousands of volunteers and the very few professionalstaff employed at Cochrane entities. Likewise, theCroatian Branch of the Italian Cochrane Center relies mostlyon the volunteer work of multiple collaborators and has veryfew staff members in the central office. With the foundationof the Cochrane entity in Croatia, the evidence-based medicinemovement in the whole region should be enhanced.