The WHO Reproductive Health Library (RHL)
About RHL
The WHO Reproductive Health Library (RHL) is an electronic review journal published by the Department of Reproductive Health and Research at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. RHL takes the best available evidence on sexual and reproductive health from Cochrane systematic reviews and presents it as practical actions for clinicians (and policy-makers) to improve health outcomes, especially in developing countries.
From the outset, RHL has been published simultaneously in English and Spanish. A Chinese version of RHL (No. 5) was started in 2005, and a French version (RHL No. 8) in 2006. In late 2007, Vietnamese joined the list of language versions of RHL (No. 8). RHL, and all its language versions, can be accessed free of charge on the Internet in all developing countries. Under an agreement between WHO and Wiley-Blackwell (copyright holders of the Cochrane systematic reviews), the full version of RHL (Cochrane reviews plus commentaries) is also available free of charge in developed countries that have national subscriptions to The Cochrane Library. In other developed countries RHL is available on the Internet without access to full Cochrane reviews contained in it.
RHL is also available on CD-ROM This service is provided only for readers in developing countries who do not have access to the Internet; WHO does not disseminate RHL on CD-ROM in developed countries.
Main inclusions in RHL
- Full text of selected Cochrane systematic reviews
- Independent expert commentaries on single or a collection of related Cochrane reviews - RHL commentaries
- Practical advice on implementation of findings of each Cochrane review - RHL practical aspects
- A complete list of interventions evaluated in RHL, classified by the degree of their effectiveness - Effectiveness summaries
- A set of training videos to help clinicians master details of manual and surgical procedures - RHL videos
- A set of published journal articles and other materials to help understand and practice evidence-based sexual and reproductive health care - Evidence-based medicine resources
