Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to address you through this newly established Discussion Group for Eastern Mediterranean Information and Communication Technology or EMRICT. In May 2001 the ICT Focal Points in the Region had their regular meeting at the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in Cairo and made a number of conclusions and recommendations. One of these recommendations was to establish this listserv and host it on the Regional Office website. Implementation of this recommendation took some time, both in the planning and to enable us to launch it at an appropriate time. An important intercountry meeting is being held now at the Regional Office which has brought together ICT focal points and health statistics focal points in the Region to discuss issues related to application of ICT in management of health data. The objective of the listserv is that it should be used as a vehicle for exchange of information and experience in all areas of health and medical informatics and telematics. We would like it to be a forum for discussion, to present success stories and to ask for advice from other colleagues. We would like it to be the voice of ICT professionals in health care institutions in the Region, a forum to raise issues for decision-makers' consideration and a mechanism for continuous education.